China’s first state awards for poverty reduction questioned after ‘abnormalities’ in online public vote

China’s first state awards for poverty reduction has drawn questions after “abnormalities” in online voting were discovered.

The awards will be the first national honoursissued by a cabinet office for poverty reduction, according to an official introduction. The authorities issued a notice about the awards on August 18 asking for candidate submissions, and a review panel of 61 people, who were not identified, was set up on Sept 9 to decide the 60 finalists.

Those competing for the top honour include Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man; Xu Jiayin, also known by his Cantonese name of Hui Ka Yan, another property tycoon who is fighting for control of property developer Vanke; Yang Guoqiang, founder of property developer Country Garden Group; Zhang Jindong, founder of the Suning Commerce Group; along with Communist Party chiefs of villages, local government officials, scientists and even bankers.

As many as 40 out of the 60 finalists will be winners. Xu, the chairman of Evergrande Group, is a candidate for an award for those “dedicated to poverty alleviation and who have made great poverty-alleviation achievements”, while Wang, the Wanda Group founder, is a candidate for an award for those who “innovated approaches and achieved remarkable outcomes” in reducing poverty.