Independent political activists seeking nomination in forthcoming district legislative elections in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu say they have been excluded from the ballot paper on the grounds that their candidacy is "inconvenient."
Chen Qian, who tried to seek nomination for elections to the local tier of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's rubber-stamp parliament, said she had been to the local government offices on Thursday to enquire after her candidacy in her home district of Jinniu but got no reply.
"Just before the Lunar New Year, I was told by district government officials that they wouldn't start deciding the candidates' list until after the New Year," Chen said. "But [on Thursday] they refused to answer my questions."
"I think that they have already started selecting candidates," she said. "I know they have already started doing in over in Shuangliu district, because my friends told me about it."
"They said the nomination period would close on Feb. 6, but we haven't even had an application form for candidacy come through yet," Chen said.
She said there were currently more than 30 independent candidates seeking official nomination in NPC elections across the city, which will take place on Feb. 26.
Many had already been the targets of harassment by the authorities, with many called in for questioning, threatened, and detained without charge, Chen said.
China allows direct provincial and municipal elections for the local levels of the National People's Congress across the country, but the process is tightly controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Letter of complaint
Last December, Chengdu police detained and questioned at least four independent candidates in connection with a protest letter they signed.
The letter complained about widespread official harassment and mistreatment of anyone trying to invoke a clause in China's Election Law allowing candidates to seek nomination if they were supported by the signatures of at least 10 constituents.
Last October, hundreds of residents of the southern Chinese city of Foshan lodged a formal complaint with the local government over the detention of an independent candidate in local parliamentary elections.
Nine hundred voters from the Rongli electoral district of Guangdong's Foshan city signed an open letter to the Shunde electoral committee, which administers their area, calling on them to declare the election results null and void because of "illegalities."
They cited the detention by the authorities of Rongli district independent candidate Li Biyun on charges of violating electoral law.
Li, who had garnered more than 600 signatures on her application for candidacy, is now being held under criminal detention after she scuffled with officials during a protest outside local government offices at her treatment.
She is currently being held in the Shunde District Detention Center.
'No such thing'
More than two million lawmakers at the local levels will be elected in more than 2,000 counties and 30,000 townships in elections which began last year, and extend through December 2012. The poll is held every five years.
However, officials have warned that there is "no such thing" as an independent candidate, and have ordered the media not to cover those who seek election outside the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Apart from a token group of "democratic parties" which never oppose or criticize the Party, opposition political parties are banned in China, and those who set them up are frequently handed lengthy jail terms.
Elections have already been held elsewhere in China this year, amid complaints of corruption and irregular polling procedures.
Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.