The move is the first of its kind in South China's Guangdong Province and has rarely been seen elsewhere in China.

Hu Jinguang, a professor of administrative law and an expert on electoral law at Renmin University of China's law school, said: "This reflects the increased democratic awareness of the local residents, notwithstanding whether or not the voters' reasons are correct and the result of this issue."

Thirty-three voters in Maling, a community in Shenzhen's Nanshan District, proposed a motion calling for the recall of Chen Huibin, a newly elected congresswoman, from the district people's congress on Monday when the local congress met for the first time in its three-year tenure.

The voters complained that Chen had shown indifference to the welfare of local residents and had failed to fulfill her duties as director of the neighborhood committee.

Yang Jinjie, an official with the district people's congress, said: "We set up a task force to examine the case immediately after we received the motion."

He said the investigation will take at least two weeks.

An official with the National People's Congress, who declined to be identified, said: "It is rare in China for voters to dismiss deputies to people's congresses at any level."

Officials with the Guangdong provincial people's congress said it was the first time voters in the province had demanded the recall of a deputy.

China's Electoral Law stipulates that deputies to people's congresses at all levels should be supervised by the electorate and that voters have the right to recall deputies.

The law says the dismissal process can be initiated when 30 or more voters jointly put forward a written proposal to the standing committee of the people's congress under county level, specifying their reasons for the recall of a deputy.

It also stipulates that the deputy whose dismissal is proposed has the right to defend himself or herself at a conference of the electorate or to argue his or her case in writing.

Chen will be dismissed if at least half of the local electorate agree to recall her, according to the law.

But sources with the local people's congress did not reveal when the vote would be held.

Electoral law experts said voters should judge whether or not a deputy is fit for the job according to the Law on Deputies to People's Congresses at All Levels.

(China Daily June 5, 2003)