Voting puts demolition plan on hold

By Sun Yuqing, Bernice Chan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-06-09 23:57

An aged woman waits to cast a vote on the demolishment and reconstruction of old buildings in Juixiaqiao Sub-district in Beijing, June 9, 2007. Local government and the real estate developer jointly organize the vote on Saturday to see if majority residents of over 5000 families accept the new compensation policy after failed attempts to reach an agreement through other ways. Both notary officials and supervisors are invited to monitor the vote that runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at six ballot booths. [Sun Yuqing/www.chinadaily.com.cn]
An aged woman waits to cast a vote on the demolition and reconstruction of old buildings in Juixiaqiao Sub-district in Beijing, June 9, 2007. Some 3,711 families voted on Saturday, with 2,451 votes for and 1,228 votes against the demolition and compensation plan. Thirty-two votes were invalid.[Sun Yuqing/chinadaily.com.cn]

The result of the vote on the housing demolition and compensation policy at Jiuxianqiao sub-district in Chaoyang District of Beijing is in: 2,451 families voted for the demolition compensation policy, 1,228 against it, and votes from 32 families were invalid.

About 67% of the 5,473 families cast their votes on Saturday. [Click to read more on the Jiuxianqiao housing demolition project, compensation policy, and voting procedures]

When the voting closed at 9:00pm, each of the seven balloting boxes were sealed and signed by notary officials.

The police officers carried the sealed boxes to the gymnasium. The votes were counted under the supervision of residents' representatives and notary officials.

Several media were on hand to document the proceedings.

"The voting proceeding was normal and the result was correct," Ba Changrui, deputy head for the Jiuxianqiao Sub-district Office, said after the notarized results were announced.

With this voting result, it is unknown when the demolition could start, or whether it could be started at all.

The estate developer and local government will further amend the demolition and compensation plan. 

 



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