The system of people's congress () under the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) is the form of government of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC), and is based on the principle of unified power, in which all state powers are vested in the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

(NPC). No separation of powers exists in the PRC. All state organs are elected by, answerable to, and have no separate powers than those granted to them by the NPC. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP.

System

According to the PRC constitution, all power belongs to the people, and

and local people's congresses are the bodies through which the people exercise state power. The NPC is officially China's highest organ of state power, with the Standing Committee being its permanent body.

Levels

The People's Congress System was set out in the Electoral Law of 1953 and has been subsequently revised. Currently, there are five levels of people's congresses. From more to less local, they are: # people's congresses in villages, minority nationality townships, and towns; # people's congresses of cities that are not sub-divided, municipal districts, counties, and autonomous counties; # people's congresses in sub-districts of larger cities and in autonomous prefectures; # people's congresses in

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

, autonomous regions, and direct-administered municipalities; and # the National People's Congress. Direct elections occur at the two most local levels, while the members at the higher levels are indirectly elected, i.e., elected by those elected in the lower levels. The size of the people's congresses increase with their administrative rank. With some exceptions, township people's congresses usually have 40 to 130 deputies, county people's congresses from 120 to 450, prefectural people's congresses from 240 to 650, provincial people's congresses from 350 to 1,000, and the NPC at around 3,000. The total number of people's congresses throughout China at different levels is over 40,000, and the total number of deputies is in the hundreds of thousands.

Role of the Chinese Communist Party

Nominations at all levels are controlled by the

(CCP), and the CCP's supreme position is enshrined in the state constitution, meaning that the elections have little way of influencing politics. The CCP, through its control of the nomination process, ensures that around 70% of deputies to the people's congresses are party members. The top positions in the system are granted to senior CCP leaders, including the position of the NPCSC chairman, who has always been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, and the NPCSC vice chairperson positions. Additionally, elections are not pluralistic as no opposition is allowed. The CCP has a central role in lawmaking, which has fluctuated over time. The CCP effectively sits above any legal code and the

constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Progr ...

. CCP principles and slogans are codified into the state's legal code to increase the legitimacy of party rule. The role of the CCP in lawmaking increased under CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's tenure. Through a variety of documents circulated within the CCP, the party directs China's lawmaking organs such as the NPC Standing Committee in the lawmaking process.

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