The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in last November set developing socialist democratic politics and building socialist "political civilization" as a major part of the Party's mission to build an "overall well-off society" in China by the year of 2020. The multi-candidate direct elections for villagers committees and urban community neighborhood committees are being carried out vigorously to incarnate this ideal in cities and villages across the country.

The Xianyukou community election

March 22, 2003 is an ordinary Saturday, but for residents living in the Xianyukou Community, Qianmen Street, Chongwen District, Beijing, the day is special. This day they cast their votes to directly elect new managers for their community.

Early in the morning, the courtyard of the Xianyukou Community Residents Committee bustles as people crowd into the meeting place for the election. Banners carry the slogans "Cherish democratic rights and cast your solemn vote" and "Do the work of the Community Residents Committee election well" and hang high around the place. On one side of the courtyard stand the verification office, registration office, voting documentation office, vote slip writing office and the signing office. At the short interval before the meeting, a yangge (popular rural folk dance) troupe from the community performs yangge and a fan dance.

The Ma Wenling, 72, took ten members of his and his son's (in-laws) family to the election meeting. They live in 19 Changxiang Ertiao, Qianmen Street, a place in the Xianyukou precinct.

"We held a family gathering during the nomination stage to adjust our position and decide on candidates. I have lived for tens of years experiencing old and new societies in China and it's the first time for me to experience such a thing. We know who are the best; capable and honest," Ma says loudly.

At 8:00 am the election meeting begins. The solemn sound of the Chinese National Anthem floats above the alleyways. Once the president of the meeting announces the names of the head voting inspector, ballot scrutinizers and members of the staff, he explains the guidelines on filling in ballot papers and the electorate begin getting their ballots, filling them in and casting them one by one.

At the election site Duan Shaodong, an old man living at 20 Xinchao Hutong, tells the profile of each nominee to his almost blind wife: filling in and verifying the votes for her according to her instructions. He says that he and his wife's opinions are largely the same but differ on a few nominees but they let the differences be. Zhou Deqin and his wife steal a short period of time from their busy business schedule to vote. He was astonished when he was told that he had the right to vote because he is not a permanent Beijing resident. He comes originally from the eastern coast province of Shandong to do business in the Xianyukou area in 1999.

"I am a member of the community and I will vote well," he says.

The vote lasts until 19:00. Under the supervision of the balloting scrutinizers, the votes are called out and counted. Around 23:00, the result of the voting is announced: Yin Hongxia, the former director of the residents committee from 2000 is elected new committee director, getting 2,272 out of the 2464 votes. Another nine people out of 12 nominees are elected members of the residents committee. The community has an electorate of 2,546. Among the 2,467 votes issued 2,464 are returned. Many residents stay in the courtyard of the residents committee warmly applauding as the president of the meeting announces the result.

Yin gives her inaugural speech right away: "What does a residents committee do?" she says, "We do everything the residents expect; we deal with everything the residents are dissatisfied with!"

A storm of applause rises up.

High rate of participation

The Xianyukou community consists of 11 zigzagging interconnected hutongs (alleyways) with 1,470 households and 3,150 residents.

"To make the election a real general election, the street and community authorities used various means: establishing publicity stations, publishing blackboard newspapers, hanging slogan banners and distributing letters to local residents, to make the event known to as many people as possible. As a result, 95 percent of the residents living in the community knew about the election with over 96 percent of the population of the community participating," says Zhang Xiulan, a member of the Xianyukou Community Election Committee.

According to Li Jianguo, director of the Grass-roots Political Power Office of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, 15 communities, including the Xianyukou Community, have adopted direct elections among the 124 communities in Beijing selected as pilot sites for neighborhood committee elections. Each procedure: establishing election organizations; nominating members of community election committees; verifying qualifications of voters; choosing election approaches and deciding final candidates for voting, is carried out by residents' assemblies according to law.

Li also mentions other major changes in the elections.

First, the electorate has been expanded to include representatives from government departments, enterprises and public institutions stationed within a community and immigrants who have lived in the community for not less than one year into the body of voters. The other two parts of an electorate for community elections are residents with permanent residence who are registered in the community and residents living in the community but with their permanent residence registered in other areas of the city.

Second, the old nomination approach has been abolished as every qualified voter now has the right to nominate. The nomination should be jointly signed by no less than ten people. A person can also put themselves forward to be a candidate.

Third, the multiple candidate approach has been adopted for all elections. For example, voters of the Xianyukou community elected nine members for its neighborhood committee out of a total of 12 candidates nominated by 938 nominators. Another candidate nominated was dropped from the final candidates' list during the election process.

Fourth, candidates for the first time are given the chance to carry out public "election campaigns." One week prior to the election all the candidates can meet the electorate, address them and field their questions in meetings.

The election comes in the wake of Beijing's adjustments for communities and reform of community administration. By June 2003, over 200 of Beijing's some 2,400 communities, will adopt the multi-candidate direct election measures.

Improving community administration

Beijing City's multi-candidate resident community direct elections are regarded as a bold move to explore the means to realize the urban grass-roots democratic election process.

"The direct election of urban community neighborhood committees effectively enhances and promotes the building of a transparent socialist political "civilization" that fully demonstrates the vitality of socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics," says Yuan Dayi, an associate professor at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.

Yuan has been devoted to the study of grass-roots democratic elections in China over the years and he has witnessed the entire process of the election in Xianyukou.

Although direct election at grass-roots level is the current trend, it may not be applicable to every urban community neighborhood committee, according to some others. Direct election by every resident as well as indirect election by representatives of residents are necessary for the time being because situations differ from one community to the other. Factors that might influence the feasibility of an election model include: the natural environment, population density, residential structure and residents' wishes for a community.

The Xianyukou community is packed in dense bungalows and residents there are familiar with each other. However, bonds between residents and their employers have weakened over time: now they are "people of society" more than they are "people of (working) units." The local neighborhood committee has a lot to do with their interests and the direct election is appropriate for the community. But for those communities still in the shadow of the "unit" system, indirect elections are preferable because the interests of resident are subsumed by the interest of the employers who are less concerned about community affairs.

Grass-roots democracy in the spotlight

Even though of low rank and limited power, community neighborhood committee officials play an important role in having direct contact with city residents and handling miscellaneous affairs. The birth of the neighborhood committee attracted much public interest because the body is so closely linked to the interests of its residents. Also, civil rights have been further realized thanks to the direct election of community neighborhood committees.

"Community is where our hearts are" is not a mere slogan but truly representative of the transformed relationship between residents and the community they live in. When people from "units" are gradually remolded into people from "society," things affecting their interests will begin to take place in the community rather than at work.

As the status of neighborhood committees rise, greater recognition and support from local residents will be vital to improve their management.

The rate of participation in Beijing's direct community elections is currently at 96 percent, clearly indicating a bright future for neighborhood committees and better relations for committees and residents.

(China.org.cn by Chen Chao, April 19, 2003)