Hundreds of counties and townships in 12 provinces, autonomous
regions and municipalities in China have finished electing deputies
to their local people's congresses, according to the National
People's Congress (NPC).
Of the 12 provincial areas five have seen all the congresses at
county and township levels hold the first meetings at which new
leaders were elected to run local governments, the NPC said.
Elections for new people's congresses at county and township
levels across the country began on July 1, 2006 and will be
completed by the end of 2007.
Deputies to local people's congresses are elected to a five-year
term, according to provisions in the Constitution and Election
Law.
Under China's electoral system, which is based on representation
by population, two million deputies will be elected to the two
levels of local congresses.
Candidates to the country and township congresses are
recommended by political parties, organizations or nominated by
voters in a joint way. Candidates, who run in districts within a
county or township, are introduced to voters at meetings where they
present their ideas on how they’d help manage public affairs and
respond to questions from the audience.
There are always more candidates than there are deputies to be
elected and voting is carried out by secret ballot.
During local elections held recently in Beijing voter turnout
was as high as 96 percent as election staff enumerated every
household to register voters.
Jilin Province now requires that the number of
deputies, who are also government officials, should not exceed 25
percent of the total number of deputies. This ensures that the
majority of deputies to the grassroots congresses come from all
walks of life including workers, farmers, entrepreneurs and
intellectuals.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2007)