The election of
China's new county- and township-level people's congresses has been
underway since July this year. This is the first election after
China amended its Electoral Law in March 2010, which grants equal
representation in legislative bodies to rural and urban
residents.
November 8 was
the polling day for new people's congresses in Beijing's districts,
counties and townships. On that day, 9.1 million people
participated in the voting, 97 percent of the registered voters.
The turnout is the highest in recent three elections. Judging from
elections around the country, great progress has been made in
guaranteeing voters' rights to know, to participate, to express and
to supervise. The amended Electoral Law has greatly promoted
grassroots democracy in China.
China's electoral
system consists of direct and indirect elections. According to the
Electoral Law, county- and township-level people's congresses are
elected directly by their constituencies, while provincial people's
congresses and the National People's Congress, the country's top
legislature, are elected by people's congresses at the next level
down.
The ongoing
elections will produce more than 2,000 county-level and 30,000
township-level people's congresses with more than 2 million
deputies, which is bound to have a huge impact on the political
landscape in China.
As is stipulated
by the amended Electoral Law, people's congress elections now use
the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in urban
and rural areas, while in the past, the number of people that a
rural deputy represented was four times that of an urban deputy.
The law also states that election committees shall, upon request of
voters, arrange meetings between deputy candidates and voters.
According to
official statistics, more than 90 percent of registered voters cast
their ballots in provinces and autonomous regions that have held
people's congress elections. Election organizers have taken
effective measures to ensure more floating people exercise their
right to vote.
China still has a
lot more to do in organizing elections. For instance, in some
regions, voters are given no secrecy when writing their votes, and
communication between deputy candidates and voters is far from
sufficient. Also, some voters are not fully aware of their rights
enshrined in the law.
A sound electoral
system can arouse the enthusiasm of voters. Only when elections are
in accordance with all regulations and original purposes of the
Electoral Law, can the initiative of voters be brought up for
giving out careful and responsible votes. And only in that way can
real democracy be realized in the heart of every common
Chinese.
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