Elections in China

People's Congresses of cities that are not divided into districts (不设区的市), counties (县), city districts (市辖区), towns (镇), townships (乡), and lastly ethnic townships (民族乡), are directly elected.[1] Additionally, village (村) committee members and chairpersons are directly elected.[4][5] Local People's Congresses have the constitutional authority to recall the heads and deputy heads of government at the provincial level and below.

A list of voters posted in a neighbourhood in Shenzhen, Guangdong. April 11, 2014.

Under the electoral law of 1 July 1979, nomination of candidates for direct elections (in counties, townships, etc.) can be made by the Communist Party of China, the various other political parties, mass organizations, or any voter seconded by at least 10 other voters.[6] The final list of electoral candidates must be worked out through "discussion and consultation" or primary elections,[7] which in practice is conducted by an election committee in consultation with small groups of voters.[6] Election committee members are appointed by the standing committees of the people's congresses at the corresponding level.[6] The process used for competitive races is known as the "three ups and three downs" (三上三下, sān shàng sān xià).[8] According to the Chinese government, the "three ups and three downs" process is supposed to operate as follows:

• the election committee collates all of the nominations, checks them, and publishes the list of nominees and their basic details (first "up"). The published list is given to groups of electors, comprising the voters in each geographical or institutional electorate for discussion (first "down");
• the views of the groups of electors are conveyed via group representatives at a committee meeting, in order to reduce the number of candidates (second "up"). The views of different elector groups and the discussions at the committee meeting are then conveyed to voters, and their views are sought (second "down"); and
• the views of the groups of electors are once again collated and reported to the election committee which, by reference to the views of the majority of electors, determine the final list of candidates (third "up"). The list of names and basic details is published by electorate (third "down").[9]

The number of candidates for a direct election should be 1.3 to 2 times than the number of deputies to be elected.[6] Where the people's congresses above the county level elect deupties at the next higher level, the number of candidates should be 1.2 to 1.5 times the number of deputies to be elected.[6] Voting is to be done by secret ballot, and voters are entitled to recall elections.[10] Eligible voters, and their electoral districts, are chosen from the family (户籍) or work unit (单位 or dānwèi) registers for rural and urban voters, respectively, which are then submitted to the election committees after cross-examination by electoral district leaders.[11] Electoral districts at the basic level (townships, towns, etc.) are composed of 200–300 voters but sometimes up to 1000, while larger levels (counties, etc.) are composed of 3000 to 4000 voters

Heads of People's Governments are formally elected by the People's Congress of that level pursuant to the Organic Law on Local People's Congresses and Governments,[12] but the heads of township governments have been experimentally elected by the people through various mechanisms.[13] There are several models used:[14]

• direct nomination and election (Chinese: 直推直选; pinyin: zhi tui zhi xuan)
• direction election (Chinese: 直选; pinyin: zhi xuan)
• two ballots in three rounds (Chinese: 三轮两票制; pinyin: san lun liang piao zhi)
• competition based on mass recommendation (Chinese: 民推竞选; pinyin: min tui jing xuan)
• nomination and election by the masses (海选 or hǎi xuǎn; literally "sea election")
• public recommendation and public election (Chinese: 公推公选; pinyin: gong tui gong xuan)
• vote of confidence (Chinese: 信任投票; pinyin: xin ren tou piao)

Since taking power in 1978, Deng Xiaoping experimented with direct democracy at the local level.[15] Villages have been traditionally the lowest level of government in China's complicated hierarchy of governance.[16] Many have criticized the locally elected representatives as serving as "rubber stamps", though during some eras the Communists have flirted with the idea of potentially allowing some competition.[17] In the early 1980s, a few southern villages began implementing "Vote for your Chief" policies, in which free elections are intended to be held for the election of a village chief, who holds a lot of power and influence traditionally in rural society.[18] Many of these multi-candidate elections[19] were successful, involving candidate debates, formal platforms, and the initiation of secret ballot boxes.[20] The suffrage was not universal,[21] with eligible citizens above age 18 having the right to vote and be elected. Such an election comprises usually over no more than 2000 voters, and the first-past-the-post system is used in determining the winner, with no restriction on political affiliation.[22] The elections, held every three years,[23] are always supervised by a higher level of government, usually by a County Government. Part of the reason for these early elections was to shift the responsibility of ensuring good performance and reduced corruption of local leaders from the Chinese bureaucracy to the local villagers.[24]

Under the Organic Law of Village Committees, all of China's approximately 1 million villages are expected to hold competitive, direct elections for sub-governmental village committees. A 1998 revision to the law called for improvements in the nominating process and enhanced transparency in village committee administration.[25] The revised law also explicitly transferred the power to nominate candidates to villagers themselves, as opposed to village groups or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branches.[26] According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as of 2003 the majority of provinces had carried out at least four or five rounds of village elections.

All Local People's Congresses of China are conducting elections of local government leaders.

People's Congresses of provinces (省), directly controlled municipalities (直辖市), and cities divided into districts (设区的市) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.[1]

The Local People's Congress at each administrative level—other than the village level in rural areas, which hold direct elections—elects candidates for executive positions at that level of government.

The National People's Congress (NPC) has 2987 members, elected for five year terms. Deputies are elected (over a three-month period) by the people's congresses of the provinces of China, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and the armed forces. The size of each college of delegates is related to the number of electors in the constituency. 36 deputies are elected in Hong Kong.

The President and Vice President of China, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and the President and Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court are all elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Presidium of the NPC.[27] The Premier is elected by the NPC on the nomination of the President.[27] Other members of the State Council are elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Premier.[27] Other members of the Central Military Commission are elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.[27]

In the 2008 election for the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, for example, president Hu Jintao, the only candidate, received a majority of approval votes. However, some electors chose to write in other names; the most popular write-in candidate was former premier Zhu Rongji.

For appointed positions requiring the approval of the People's Congress, such as the premier and cabinet ministers, delegates may either approve or disapprove of the appointment. Relevant laws provide that if the single candidate does not receive more than 50% approval, the position is left vacant until the next session of the People's Congress. This rarely happens in practice, and has never happened at the national level.

Officially, China is a multi-party socialist state under the leadership of the CCP. There are a small number of independent candidates for people's congress, particularly in neighborhoods of major cities, who sometimes campaign using weibos posted on the internet.[28]

Although there is no legal requirement for either membership in or approval by the Communist Party, in practice the membership of the higher people's congresses and people's governments are largely determined by the Party.[29] Independent candidates are strongly discouraged and face government intervention in their campaigns.[30] In practice, the power of parties other than the Communist Party of China is eliminated.[28] Because none of the minor parties have independent bases of support and rely on Communist Party approval for appointment to positions of power, none have the capacity to serve as a true opposition party. Whereas there are Communist Party Committees in People's Congresses at all levels, none of the other parties operate any form of party parliamentary groups. In order to represent different segments of the population and bring in technical expertise, the CCP does ensure that a significant minority of people's congress delegates are either minor party members or unaffiliated, and there is tolerance of disagreement and debate in the legislative process where this does not fundamentally challenge the role of the Communist Party.

Communist Party regulations require members of the People's Congresses, People's Governments, and People's Courts to implement CCP recommendations (including nominations) pursuant to the CCP Regulations on the Selection and Appointment Work of Cadres of Both CCP and Government Organs.[29]

"These regulations apply to the selection and appointment of cadres to the working departments and/or internal institutes of the Central Committee of the CCP, the NPCSC, the State Council, the National People's Consultative Committee, the Central Disciplinary Committee of the CCP, officials (not including the heads) of the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate and their internal institutions, officials of local CCP organs, people's congresses, people's governments, political consultative committees, people's courts, people's procuratorates at and above county level, and their internal institutions, as well as officials of the internal institutions of the working organs mentioned above. Reference should be made to these regulations for the selection and appointment of officials to institutions directly under the leadership of the CCP organs an people's governments at and above county level, trade unions, youth leagues of the CCP, women's associations and any other people's organizations. Reference should be made to these regulations for the selection and appointment of officials who are not CCP members. Reference should also be made to these regulations in the selection and appointment of persons to non-leaders' positions above county level (Chuji). …

"When a CCP committee recommends to a people's congress or its standing committee candidates for officials to positions which need to be elected by either a people's congress or its standing committee, it should first introduce its recommendation opinions to the interim CCP organ within the people's congress or the CCP organization of the standing committee of the people's congress. The interim CCP organ, the CCP organization within the standing committee of the people's congress and CCP members of the standing committee and of the people's congress, should seriously implement the recommendation opinions of the CCP committee, take lead in doing things according to law, and correctly perform their obligations."

Elected leaders remain subordinate to the corresponding CCP secretary, and most are appointed by higher-level party organizations.[29] Furthermore, while legally responsible for the oversight of the administration, it is difficult for a person in a people's congress without party support to exercise effective control or power over the administration of the executive at a given level.