More than 500 local lawmakers in a southern Chinese city resigned over electoral fraud, as the ruling Communist Party reiterated vows to curb graft to maintain confidence in the country's political system.
The People's Congress of Hengyang city accepted resignations on Saturday from 512 delegates found to have taken bribes in exchange for votes, state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing the lawmaking body. The election of 56 local delegates to the provincial congress was invalidated after they were found to have spent a combined 110 million yuan ($18 million) on bribes, Xinhua said.
Authorities are accelerating a crackdown on corruption that underscores President Xi Jinping's warning the issue could lead to social unrest and bring down the party. Targeting both "tigers and flies"- as Xi described perpetrators at the top and bottom of the power ladder - may bolster the party's image as economic expansion slows and public discontent over corruption spreads.
"It seems that Xi is really serious about containing corruption," said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Centre for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "If you compare with the number of senior officials arrested in a single year in the Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin administrations, definitely Xi Jinping's administration has done a lot more in terms of numbers."
Since Xi became party chief in November 2012, at least 15 ministerial-level officials have been probed for corruption, according to a December 21 report in the China Daily newspaper. Two of the 205 members of the party's central committee chosen when Xi took office are under investigation.
Prosecutors placed 129 officials at the prefectural level or above under investigation for suspected corruption and bribery in the first eight months of this year, Xinhua said in October, citing the Supreme People's Procuratorate. They investigated 22,617 cases of graft, 3.6 per cent more than a year earlier, with 7,080 cases disclosed through tips from the public, it said.
The campaign against corruption has extended from village officials and executives at state-owned companies to provincial governors and members of the elite central committee of the Communist Party.
Vice Minister of Public Security Li Dongsheng is under investigation, according to a December 20 statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the second member of the central committee to come under fire this year for suspected graft. Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province told 2,014 village chiefs to hand in their passports to prevent corrupt officials from fleeing abroad, the Guangzhou Daily reported on December 21.
The Ministry of Supervision said on Sunday that Li Chongxi, head of the political advisory body of Sichuan province, is under investigation for suspected violations.
Hengyang, about 925 miles (1490 kilometers) south of Beijing, had a population of 7.14 million in 2010, according to the city government website. Rich in natural resources including lead and zinc, the area is a heavy-industry base and home to companies including Hunan Shuikoushan Nonferrous Metals Group Co, owned by state-run China Minmetals Corp, and Hunan Hengyang Steel Tube Co.
The cash-for-votes scandal was disclosed less than two weeks after the party's anti-corruption watchdog announced that Tong Mingqian, a vice chairman of the province's political advisory body to the provincial congress, and former party secretary of Hengyang, was being investigated.
Xinhua's report named Tong as "directly responsible" for the corruption.
The allegations relate to voting in January for delegates to the provincial body. Local authorities began an investigation after public complaints in February about election irregularities, the state-run Hunan Daily said on its website.
Fifty-six of the lawmakers who were elected offered bribes to 518 delegates in Hengyang's municipal congress and 68 other staff, Xinhua said, citing the Hunan congress statement.
Five other provincial lawmakers who didn't offer bribes were fired for "serious dereliction of duty," and three municipal delegates who didn't accept money also resigned, Xinhua said.
Six local lawmakers who took bribes had already moved away and were no longer in their posts, it said.
Safeguard system
In a commentary on Sunday, the People's Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, said the country will resolutely fight corruption and that the party must rule by law to punish and handle malfeasance.
"Only by thorough investigation and seriously handling the case in accordance with laws and discipline will the party win the hearts of the people and maintain the people's confidence in the country's fundamental political system," it said.
Corruption was third among the public's top 10 concerns in 2013, up from seventh in 2012, according to a People's Daily survey conducted every March before the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing.
China's new leadership, headed by Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, took office in November 2012 in a once-a-decade power transition. In a speech to the Politburo after taking over as party general secretary, Xi told his fellow leaders that failing to address corruption might arouse social unrest and lead to the demise of the party.
Frugality campaign
Xi also started a drive to rein in lavish spending by officials and state-companies, and promote frugality. He began a campaign in June to bring the party and cadres closer to ordinary people, a project that involved officials undergoing self-criticism sessions reminiscent of those held during Mao Zedong's reign.
To emphasize the campaigns, a casually dressed Xi was photographed on Saturday queuing up to order and pay for his own meal at a branch of the Qingfeng Steamed Dumpling restaurant chain in Beijing. He chatted with fellow diners as he tucked in to a plate of green vegetables and steamed dumplings, according to photographs posted on the Xinhua website.
"Xi has been doing this for a long time - he ate with soldiers in an ordinary canteen during an inspection last year," Lam said. "He sticks to Mao's teachings about being close to the people. There is no question that this is an upgraded public relations offensive."
