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You can travel around the world, but one thing never seems to change: politicians. When one of his constituents demands to know what Zhao Xiaomao will do to replace the old folks home, kindergarten, and public toilets torn down to make way for a new industrial park, the 47-year-old chief of a small village west of Shanghai never blinks. If reelected, he declares, consider them replaced. "He'll definitely take care of these matters. If he doesn't, we'll raise [them] again," warns the questioner, 76-year-old retired Communist Party worker Wu Rongchun.
Welcome to Election Day in Quanwang village, about 90 minutes outside Shanghai. On a muggy day that alternates between light rain and oppressive sunshine, 860 of the village's 930 eligible voters -- from old women with cooling towels on their heads to middle-aged men and twentysomething up-and-comers -- have gathered on the lawn of the town's silk factory to elect a new village committee. This time is special -- former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is here as an official observer. I'm along as part of a press pool that includes about a dozen reporters and half a dozen photographers and cameramen. Villagers, sitting in wooden chairs neatly lined up in front of a small dais, seem oblivious to the media swarm.
It's the seventh time Quanwang has elected its officials, who are responsible for agriculture, fees, and taxes, Ever since elections were mandated by a 1987 law, China has sought to standardize the polling places in its approximately 900,000 villages. The Carter Foundation, established by former President Carter at Emory University in Georgia, was invited by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs to advise on ways of improving the election process. But politics can move in strange ways. Quanwang officials have moved the date of the election forward and shortened the allotted speech-making time for the candidates to accommodate President Carter's visit. Go figure.
CHAD-FREE. After Zhao's talk, the only other candidate for village chief, 38-year-old Wang Juping, gives a brief stump speech promising to serve the common people and abide by government policies. The floor is opened for questions. After a long pause, Wu raises his hand and again asks Zhao about the missing toilets and kindergarten. The question is greeted with applause. "I had to ask about this," Wu explains to me. "Everyone is concerned about these matters." Still, Wu admits he will vote for Zhao because "he was a pretty good leader before."
The voting process is simple. Voters present a small slip of paper certifying their eligibility at one of four tables set up in front of the chairs and receive a ballot with the names of the candidates. There are "scribes" present at the election places to help illiterate voters fill out their slips. Voters take their ballots into small "voting booths" -- wooden tables set up in office-like cubicles. They indicate their choice by marking an "O" for accept or an "X" for reject. They then present their finished ballots at the bigger tables out front.
The villagers return to their seats and sit under umbrellas in the hot sun, watching while the votes are tabulated, each name called out, and marked on blackboards set up in front. As often happens in Western democracies, the incumbent wins, this time by 559 votes to 283. There are a few abstentions and write-ins. "Zhou has built new roads and done a lot for Quanwang," says 38-year-old Wang Yonggen, who works on a boat on the nearby lake. "In the big picture, he has done a good job." The top four of the five candidates for village commission win seats. All the candidates are also Communist Party members, though this is not a requirement for running.
HAPPY VOTERS? Afterwards, Carter tells reporters that he has "no doubt that the decisions are being made by villagers themselves. As far as I can tell, it's a completely democratic process." In Quanwang, the process is indeed more democratic than in some other villages -- candidates are chosen through a write-in campaign by villagers. Elsewhere, candidates are still chosen by the local Communist Party Committee, says Northeastern University's Suzanne Ogden, who has written a book on democracy in China. And even though candidates are not required to be Communist Party Commission members, villagers often prefer that the two jobs overlap because they perceive those people as having more clout, says Ogden, who is along as part of the Carter Center delegation.
Still, villagers express general satisfaction with the process. Some view it as a chance to push for change. Factory worker Zao Yongmei, 26, says she voted for the challenger, Wang, because "he's new. We need some new ideas." And some even manage to make a buck off the election. As the voters shuffle out, one villager collects the discarded empties from the plastic water bottles that were handed out free to participants. He'll recycle them for cash.
By Alysha Webb in Quanwang, China Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
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