Social security tops priorities in public poll

In an online poll being conducted by People's Daily, China's flagship newspaper, social security has topped the list of priorities that are expected to be addressed at China's upcoming political sessions.

Since the poll started on Feb. 7, more than 41,000 votes have gone to social security as of Tuesday noon, ranking it first among 20 topics.

Anti-corruption and clean governance is second with 24,000 votes, and social management ranks third with 23,500 votes.

Some of the other topics include the distribution of wealth, medical reform, housing prices, education equality, and food safety.

The newspaper has conducted the poll annually for 10 years running. Last year, social security also topped the list with more than 71,000 votes, while the top priority of the 2010 poll was the pension program, a key component of social security.

A number of Internet users gave their opinions on the poll's webpage, such as calls for the government to raise the pension of laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises as well as the social security benefits of veterans.

China is expecting two major political events in March. The Fifth Session of the National Committee of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the national advisory body, will open March 3.

The Fifth Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, will open March 5.