Top Hebei official sacked over vote-buying ahead of reshuffle

An assistant to the governor of the northeastern province of Hebei has been dismissed for buying votes ahead of a reshuffle of provincial officials.

An investigation found Li Junqu, who became the right-hand man to Hebei governor Guo Gengmao in July last year, 'breached reshuffle discipline' before evaluation work started for key personnel arrangements for the provincial people's congress, government and political consultative conference, Xinhua reported.

The 53-year-old resorted to a string of illicit ways to 'obtain recommendation votes', including 'inviting relevant officials to dinner and giving out gifts', it said.

Mr Li was the first casualty of a stepped-up campaign by the Communist Party's personnel agency to stamp out election-related corruption, which has become rampant in recent years.

Last week, an Organisation Department circular urged local governments to 'resolutely prevent and seriously deal with vote-pulling, vote-buying, and other problems'.

Given that the first half of next year would see a sweeping reshuffle of officials at provincial and municipal people's congresses, governments and political consultative conferences, great efforts should be made to investigate any problems related to the reshuffle, the circular said.