Villagers go to poll for new committee

WUKAN, Guangdong -Residents in the southern village of Wukan - which has made headlines recently for protests regarding illegal land use and corruption of village officials - voted on Wednesday for an independent election committee after provincial authorities declared the election of the former village committee to be invalid.

The independent election committee will supervise upcoming rounds of voting for villagers' representatives and an election for new village leaders.

Eleven villagers who will make up the election committee will not be permitted to run for the upcoming village committee, Xinhua News Agency said.