Elections in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

are based on a hierarchical electoral system, whereby local People's Congresses are directly elected. All higher levels of People's Congresses up to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...

(NPC), the national legislature, are

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the ol ...

by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.Article 97 of the

Constitution of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fou ...

The NPC Standing Committee may partially alter laws passed by the NPC when the NPC is not in session, which is significant since the Standing Committee meets more frequently than the NPC. Governors, mayors, and heads of counties, districts, townships and towns are in turn elected by the respective local People's Congresses.Article 101 of the

Presidents of people's courts and chief procurators of people's procuratorates are elected by the respective local People's Congresses above the county level. The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and the State Council are elected by the National People's Congress, which is made up of 2980 people. Elections in China occur under a single-party political system. Elections occur only at the local level, not the national level. China is among few contemporary party-led socialist governmental systems to not hold any direct elections at the national level. The competitive nature of the elections is highly constrained by the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

's monopoly on power in China, limitations on

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

, and government interference with the elections. According to Rory Truex, "the CPC tightly controls the nomination and election processes at every level in the people's congress system... the tiered, indirect electoral mechanism in the People's Congress system ensures that deputies at the highest levels face no semblance of electoral accountability to the Chinese citizenry."

Electoral system

Direct elections

People's Congresses of cities that are not divided into districts (),

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(), city districts (),

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

s (),

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

s (), and lastly

ethnic townships An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

(), are directly elected. Additionally,

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

() committee members and chairpersons are directly elected. Local People's Congresses have the constitutional authority to recall the heads and deputy heads of government at the provincial level and below.

Local People's Congresses

Under the electoral law of 1 July 1979, nomination of candidates for direct elections (in counties, townships, etc.) can be made by the CPC, the various other political parties, mass organizations, or any voter seconded by at least 10 other voters. The final list of electoral candidates must be worked out through "discussion and consultation" or

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s, which in practice is conducted by an election committee in consultation with small groups of voters. Election committee members are appointed by the standing committees of the people's congresses at the corresponding level. The process used for competitive races is known as the "three ups and three downs" (, ). 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"). The number of candidates for a direct election should be 1.3 to 2 times the number of deputies to be elected. Where the people's congresses above the county level elect deputies at the next higher level, the number of candidates should be 1.2 to 1.5 times the number of deputies to be elected. Voting is done by

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vo ...

, and voters are entitled to

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of of ...

s. Eligible voters, and their electoral districts, are chosen from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

() or

work unit A work unit or ''danwei'' () is the name given to a place of employment in the People's Republic of China. The term ''danwei'' remains in use today, as people still use it to refer to their workplace. However, it is more appropriate to use ''danwei ...

( or )

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

s for rural and urban voters, respectively, which are then submitted to the election committees after cross-examination by electoral district leaders. Electoral districts at the basic level (townships,

s, etc.) are composed of 200–300 voters but sometimes up to 1,000, while larger levels (counties, etc.) are composed of 3,000 to 4,000 voters Deputies are elected from either

single-member districts A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner v ...

multi-member districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

using a modified form of

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

combined approval voting Combined approval voting (CAV) is an electoral system where each voter may express approval, disapproval, or indifference toward each candidate. The winner is the most-approved candidate. It is a cardinal system, a variation of score Score or s ...

in which a voter is allowed as many votes as there are seats to be filled (only one option may be selected per candidate), with the option to vote for or against a candidate, or abstain. The maximum number of deputies per district is three, and each district within the same administrative region must have approximately an equal number of people. Candidates must obtain a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster A tied vote between candidates is settled with a

run-off election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

. If the number of deputies elected is less than the number of deputies to be elected, a run-off election is held to fill the remaining seat(s). In the run-off election, the candidate(s) who receives the most votes is elected; however, a candidate has to win at least one-third of the votes in the run-off to be elected. Vacancies are filled using

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

Heads of Local People's Governments

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, but the heads of township governments have been experimentally elected by the people through various mechanisms. There are several models used: * direct nomination and election () * direction election () * two ballots in three rounds () * competition based on mass recommendation () * nomination and election by the masses ( or ; literally "sea election") * public recommendation and public election () * vote of confidence ()

Village chiefs

After taking power in 1978,

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...

experimented with

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are repres ...

at the local level. Villages have been traditionally the lowest level of government in China's complicated hierarchy of governance. 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. 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. Many of these multi-candidate elections were successful, involving candidate debates, formal platforms, and the initiation of secret ballot boxes. Initial reforms did not include universal suffrage, however presently, according to the constitution, eligible citizens above age 18 have the right to vote and be elected. Such an election comprises usually no more than 2000 voters, and the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

system is used in determining the winner, with no restriction on political affiliation. The elections, held every three years, are always supervised by a higher level of government, usually by a

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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. 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. The revised law also explicitly transferred the power to nominate candidates to villagers themselves, as opposed to village groups or CPC branches. According to the

Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Civil Affairs is a ministry in the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for social and administrative affairs. It was founded in May 1978, and the current Minister is Tang Dengjie. Its precedent was the M ...

, 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, in accordance with the Constitution and the Electoral Law of 1979, serve as electoral colleges for the election of regional government perform the duties of these Congresses when in recess or when the current term has adjourned ''sine die''.

Indirect elections

People's Congresses of

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

(), directly controlled municipalities (), and cities divided into districts () are

by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.

Local People's Governments

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 and the Chairmen/Chairwomen of their regional People's Congress Standing Committees.

National People's Congress

The

(NPC) has 2,987 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 A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

directly under the Central Government,

special administrative regions The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of the provincial-level administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Co ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, and the armed forces which function as

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

s. Generally, seats are apportioned to each electoral district in proportion to their population, though the system for apportioning seats for Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

differ. No electoral district may be apportioned fewer than 15 seats in the NPC.

National People's Government

The

and

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of China, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the

Chairman of the Central Military Commission Chairman of the Central Military Commission may refer to: *Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China) *Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea See also *Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the ...

, 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. The

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

is elected by the NPC on the nomination of the President. Other members of the State Council are elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Premier. Other members of the Central Military Commission are elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. In the 2008 election for the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, for example, president

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...

, 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.

Party system

Officially, China is a

unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation In mathematics, a unitary representation of a grou ...

Marxist–Leninist

one-party A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

under the leadership of the CPC. There are a small number of independent candidates for People's Congress, particularly in neighborhoods of major cities, who sometimes campaign using

weibo Weibo may refer to: * Microblogging in China, or China-based microblogging services (), including: ** NetEase Weibo (), launched by NetEase ** People's Weibo (), launched by ''People's Daily'' ** Phoenix Weibo (), launched by Phoenix Television ** W ...

s posted on the internet. Although there is no legal requirement for either membership in or approval by the CPC, in practice the membership of the higher people's congresses and people's governments are largely determined by the Party. Independent candidates are strongly discouraged and face government intervention in their campaigns. In practice, the power of parties other than the CPC is eliminated. Because none of the minor parties have independent bases of support and rely on CPC approval for appointment to positions of power, none have the capacity to serve as a true opposition party. Whereas there are CPC Committees in People's Congresses at all levels, none of the other parties operate any form of party

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliame ...

s. In order to represent different segments of the population and bring in technical expertise, the CPC 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 CPC. CPC regulations require members of the People's Congresses, People's Governments, and People's Courts to implement CPC recommendations (including nominations) pursuant to the CPC ''Regulations on the Selection and Appointment Work of Cadres of Both CPC and Government Organs''.. "Regulations on the Selection and Appointment Work of Cadres of Both CPC and Government Organs".

"These regulations apply to the selection and appointment of cadres to the working departments and/or internal institutes of the Central Committee of the CPC, the NPCSC, the State Council, the National People's Consultative Committee, the Central Disciplinary Committee of the CPC, officials (not including the heads) of the
Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC; ) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of nation ...
,
Supreme People's Procuratorate The Supreme People's Procuratorate () is the highest national agency responsible for legal prosecution and investigation in the People's Republic of China. Conceived initially in 1949 as the Supreme People's Prosecutor's Office, the agency was r ...
and their internal institutions, officials of local CPC 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 CPC organs an people's governments at and above county level, trade unions, youth leagues of the CPC, 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 CPC 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 CPC 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 CPC organ within the people's congress or the CPC organization of the standing committee of the people's congress. The interim CPC organ, the CPC organization within the standing committee of the people's congress and CPC members of the standing committee and of the people's congress, should seriously implement the recommendation opinions of the CPC committee, take lead in doing things according to law, and correctly perform their obligations."

Elected leaders remain subordinate to the corresponding CPC secretary, and most are appointed by higher-level party organizations. 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.

Electoral history

Only candidates from the CPC and the eight allied parties, and independent candidates stood at the elections, which took place from October 2012 to March 2013. The same nine parties are represented at the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

. Very small-scale competitive elections have sporadically taken place in China, such as the

2012 Wukan municipal election The Wukan municipal election was held in Wukan, People's Republic of China on 3 March 2012 following an uprising against the ruling Communist government over alleged land grabs in which protesters forced out the incumbent government; the provin ...

Legislation

The first electoral law was passed in March 1953, and the second on 1 July 1979. The 1979 law allowed for ordinary voters to nominate candidates, unlike the 1953 law which provided no such mechanism. The 1979 law was revised in 1982, removing the reference to the ability of political parties, mass organizations, and voters to use "various forms of publicity", and instead instructing that the "election committees should introduce the candidates to the voters; the political parties, mass organizations, and voters who recommend the candidates can introduce them at group meetings of the voters". In 1986, the election law was amended to disallow primary elections. Traditionally, village chiefs were appointed by the township government. The Organic Law of Village Committees was enacted in 1987 and implemented in 1988, allowing for direct election of village chiefs instead.