Villagers lobby Beijing over vote fraud claims

About 25 farmers from a village in Tangshan , Hebei province , planned to set off for Beijing last night to step up their appeal to the central government to investigate their claims of electoral fraud by a village head.

Zeng Shuqing , an organiser of the petitioners from Fengrun district's Sanlitun village, said the group hoped to arrive in Beijing this morning to appeal to the National People's Congress' petition office during a two-day stay in the capital.

The farmers have accused village director Liang Qingmei of hiring thugs to attack opponents in April as well as buying and stealing votes in an election for the village committee held between March and June.

Mr Zeng, a former deputy director of Sanlitun, alleged Mr Liang bribed the election committee, counted some votes in his favour twice, spent more than 80,000 yuan buying the votes of some villagers and prevented more than 120 opponents from casting their ballots.

Mr Zeng said they had reported the alleged fraud several times to local civil affairs authorities and police, but were repeatedly ignored. He also accused Mr Liang of hiring gangsters to beat up some villagers opposed to him, including 78-year-old Fan Guozhen and Wang Dezhi , who sustained serious head wounds in the attacks.

The petitioners appealed to Beijing last month but were told to go home and await the results of a local probe. Mr Zeng said the township authorities declared yesterday that the poll had been 'legal and fair'.