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Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform

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VIII. Strengthening Building of the Socialist Democratic System

To develop socialist democracy, we must ensure the position of the people as masters of the country, uphold and improve the system of people's congress, the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance. We will attach greater importance to improving the system of democracy and diversifying the forms of democracy, and expand citizens' orderly political participation in all levels and fields to give full play to the strength of the socialist political system.

27. Bringing the people's congress system in line with the times. We will uphold the position of the people as masters of the country, press ahead with innovation of the system of people's congress both in theory and practice, and give full play to the role of the system of people's congress as the country's fundamental political system. We will improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, and perfect the system of legislative drafting, argument, coordination and review to improve the quality of legislation and prevent regional protectionism and legalization of departmental interests. We will improve the system within which people's government, people's court and people's procuratorate are elected by, responsible to and supervised by the people's congress. We will improve the system under which major issues are discussed and decided by the people's congresses, and governments at various levels report to the people's congresses at the corresponding levels before major decisions are formulated. We will reinforce the functions of the people's congress in the examination and oversight of government budgets and final accounts, and oversight of state assets. We will implement the principle of taxation legitimacy. We will increase the contacts between the Standing Committee of the NPC and the NPC deputies, and give full play to the role of deputies. Deputy liaison offices and Internet platforms will be established in people's congresses to increase deputies' contact with the people. We will improve the working mechanism of people's congresses, widen channels for the public to participate in legislative work in an orderly manner through discussion, hearing, assessment and publicizing draft laws; actively address social concerns through inquiry, investigation of specific problems, and putting on record for examination.

28. Promoting wide, multi-tiered and institutionalized consultative democracy. Consultative democracy is a unique form and distinctive advantage of China's socialist democracy and an important embodiment of the Party's mass line in the political field. We will, under the Party's leadership, carry out extensive consultations on major issues relating to economic and social development as well as specific problems involving the people's immediate interests, and conduct consultations before and during the implementation of policy decisions. We will build a consultative democracy featuring appropriate procedures and complete segments to expand the consultation channels of the organs of state power, committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, political parties, and community-level and social organizations. We will conduct intensive consultations on issues relating to legislation, administration, democracy, political participation and social problems. We will strengthen the building of new types of think tanks with Chinese characteristics, and establish and improve the consultation system on decision-making. We will give full play to the important role of the united front in consultative democracy.

We will improve the political consultation between the CPC and non-communist parties, and listen to the suggestions of the latter parties and public figures without party affiliation. Based on the annual work priorities, the CPC Central Committee will draw up a yearly plan on which consultations will be conducted through conferences, heart-to-heart talks and symposiums. We will improve the system in which the central committees of non-communist parties make proposals directly to the CPC Central Committee. We will implement the Party's ethnic policies to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities, and consolidate and develop socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony. We will make the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference serve as a major channel for conducting consultative democracy, focusing efforts on making political consultation, democratic oversight, and participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs institutionalized, standardized and procedure-based. Party committees, governments and the CPPCC at all levels will formulate annual work plans and have consultations on these plans, soliciting suggestions from the CPPCC on major decisions. We will improve the system of the CPPCC, specifying the contents and procedures for consultation. We will diversify the forms of consultative democracy, and more actively carry out consultations on particular topics, and with specialists and representatives from all sectors of society, and with the relevant government departments on the handling of proposals, to improve the intensity and effectiveness of the consultations. We will improve the contact system of CPPCC members by setting up and improving the liaison offices.

29. Giving full play to democracy at the community level. We will open wider the channels for democracy and improve the system of community-level election, political discussion, information disclosure, duty reporting and accountability. We will exercise community-level consultative democracy in various forms and make it institutional. We will establish and improve supervision by urban residents and villagers, encouraging them to conduct self-management, self-service, self-education and self-oversight in exercising urban and rural community governance, in managing community-level public affairs and in running public service programs. We will improve the democratic management system in enterprises and public institutions with workers and employees' congress as its basic form, strengthen the building of the democratic mechanism in social organizations, and ensure employees' democratic rights in participating in management and supervision.