Amending China's election law will expand people's democracy and safeguard their rights "to be the masters of their own destiny," a parliament spokesman said here Thursday.

Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), told a press conference that the amendment was to "provide institutional guarantee for improving the people's congress system and advancing socialist democracy."

The parliament is to amend the Electoral Law, which was adopted in 1953, during the session.

The amendment aims to ensure equal electoral rights between urban and rural people.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2010)