Reform Of The Electoral System Of
Reform of the Electoral System of the People’s Congresses in
China – A Case Study of District People’s Congress Election
LIN Feng ∗
I.
Introduction
China’s electoral system is composed of three elements: (i) the electoral system of grassroots autonomous organizations such as village residents’ committees; (ii) the electoral system of the people’s congresses at all levels; and (iii) the electoral system of officials of governmental organs at all levels. Many Chinese and foreign scholars have conducted extensive and in-depth research of the electoral systems of village residents’ committees and township heads. Some scholars are of the view that China’s reform of its village electoral system represents the future of its political system reform, and the experimental reform of township head election will be the breakthrough point for China’s political reform 1 . But an alternative view is that some experimental reform of township head election is unconstitutional and therefore impossible to be promoted in China 2 . What is then the future of China’s electoral system? This paper intends to examine and analyze in detail the current status of
China’s electoral system reform of people’s congresses at district level and to predict on that basis the direction of its future development.
This paper will focus on the discussion of the electoral system of people’s congresses.
According to the Election Law of the PRC on the National People’s Congress (“the
NPC”) and All Local People’s Congresses (“the Election Law”), the deputies to township and county people’s congresses will be directly elected by voters while deputies to the people’s congresses above county level (excluding county level) will be indirectly elected by the deputies to the people’s congress at the next level below. The author’s view is that the very first thing to do is to study whether or not the election at township and county levels is successful. If it is, then direct election can be further
∗
Associate
China – A Case Study of District People’s Congress Election
LIN Feng ∗
I.
Introduction
China’s electoral system is composed of three elements: (i) the electoral system of grassroots autonomous organizations such as village residents’ committees; (ii) the electoral system of the people’s congresses at all levels; and (iii) the electoral system of officials of governmental organs at all levels. Many Chinese and foreign scholars have conducted extensive and in-depth research of the electoral systems of village residents’ committees and township heads. Some scholars are of the view that China’s reform of its village electoral system represents the future of its political system reform, and the experimental reform of township head election will be the breakthrough point for China’s political reform 1 . But an alternative view is that some experimental reform of township head election is unconstitutional and therefore impossible to be promoted in China 2 . What is then the future of China’s electoral system? This paper intends to examine and analyze in detail the current status of
China’s electoral system reform of people’s congresses at district level and to predict on that basis the direction of its future development.
This paper will focus on the discussion of the electoral system of people’s congresses.
According to the Election Law of the PRC on the National People’s Congress (“the
NPC”) and All Local People’s Congresses (“the Election Law”), the deputies to township and county people’s congresses will be directly elected by voters while deputies to the people’s congresses above county level (excluding county level) will be indirectly elected by the deputies to the people’s congress at the next level below. The author’s view is that the very first thing to do is to study whether or not the election at township and county levels is successful. If it is, then direct election can be further
∗
Associate