File photo of a voter casts his ballot in Beijing. [Photo: Xinhua]

CPC officials are calling for tighter monitoring ahead of local elections to be held across the country this year.

900-million Chinese voters are set to directly elect over 2.5 million county or township-level lawmakers in elections this year.

In issuing the call for tighter monitoring, authorities are warning of a zero-tolerance attitude toward corruption.

This follows scandals involved in local elections in the provinces of Hunan and Sichuan.

3-years ago, 56 candidates from the city of Hengyang in Hunan were caught spending a combined 18-million US dollars on bribes to get themselves elected.

Previous elections in Sichuan in 2011 saw more than 30 would-be lawmakers also busted for attempting to bribe their way into local office.