Grassroots elections underway

Elections of new deputies to people's congresses in township and county-level regions are proceeding smoothly, the General Office of the National People's Congress Standing Committee said.

The nation kicked off the elections of new deputies to people's congresses at the township and county level in the first half of this year, according to the office of the country's top legislature.

The office said on Tuesday that grassroots elections in three provincial-level regions－Shanxi, Hebei and the Tibet autonomous region－have been completed, and 28 other provincial-level areas would follow no later than the first half of next year.

The elections of deputies to people's congresses at the grassroots level is an important part of China's whole-process democracy, experts said.

The Electoral Law stipulates that an election committee should first divide counties or townships into several electoral districts and allocate the number of deputies for each electoral district. Then it needs to administer voter registration, examine voters' qualifications and determine election dates.

Before presiding over the voting, the election committee should seek and verify information on candidates, and then determine the validity of elections and release lists of elected deputies, the law says.

All Chinese citizens who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnicity, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, property status or length of residence, it added.

Sang Yucheng, a professor of political science at Fudan University, said,"The elections at township and county levels that are being developed nationwide are an important channel for realizing whole-process people's democracy."

The term whole-process people's democracy was first put forward by President Xi Jinping during an inspection tour of Shanghai's Hongqiao subdistrict in November 2019, when he said,"We're marching on a political development road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and our people's democracy is a whole-process democracy."

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, highlighted the term in a speech at a grand gathering in Beijing on July 1 to mark the Party's centenary.

Sang said whole-process democracy involves many aspects, including democratic election, negotiation, decision-making, management and supervision, adding that among them, the election has fundamental status and big significance.

Shang Hongri, a professor of political studies at Shanghai Normal University, said that democracy in China is not only a means to solve people's problems, but also to let them participate in political affairs.

"The participation at the township and county levels provides the right and a chance for residents to be closest to democracy－they can realize democracy more directly," he said.

Services for holding township and county-level elections must be guaranteed and improved, "because such elections are the start of the whole-process democracy", Shang said.

"If the elections are well held, people's demands and ideas in grassroots areas will be smoothly delivered to the national-level authorities, and the residents' problems can be better solved," he added.

Besides the people's attendance in political affairs, Liu Leming, an associate professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, said democracy in China also highlights the transparency of the whole process, adding people's opinions should be collected at every step.

The NPC Standing Committee's general office said on Tuesday that it has urged local authorities to set up election committees to perform organizational and voter-service duties, such as conducting the accurate registration of voters, ensuring the voting rights of migrant populations and safeguarding people's right to be informed, to ensure the people can participate in and oversee grassroots democracy.

Under the newly revised Electoral Law, the numbers of deputies to people's congresses at township and county-level areas have been adjusted to include more members from those at the primary level and communities, the office said.