Acclaimed Direct Elections Of Township Party Secretary And The Building Of Grassroots Democracy

Communist Party of China (CPC) has established the policy of"gradually expanding the range of direct election of members of leading groups in grass-roots", which pointed out the direction for the promotion of grassroots democracy within the Party. Promoted by the development of democracy at the grassroots level, the reform of open recommendation and direct election of the township Party secretary has been thriving. This reform lies at the cross-point of the grass-roots democracy within the Party and people's democracy, as one of the most important aspects in promotion of democracy at the grass-roots level. Furthermore, this reform has ensured the people's rights to be informed, to participate, to make decisions and to oversee, achieved the reform of power granting mechanism of township Party secretary, and established the basis of the justification of governing state affairs by CPC as well as our country's democracy development and the social harmony. This dissertation will conduct the research on the open recommendation and direct election of township Party secretary from two perspectives: one is from the perspective of the optimum and interactive relation between grass-roots democracy and open recommendation and direct election, and the other is from the perspective of relation between the reform of power granting mechanism of township Party secretary and the Party's justification of governing state affairs.The whole dissertation comprises an introduction, body part of five chapters and a conclusion. The introduction concerns the significance of the topic, literature review, research methods and major original propositions. The main contents of each chapter are as follows:The first chapter is about election and democracy. Democratic election is the source of power's legitimacy as well as the widest and most important political participation of the citizen. Through election the excellent citizens can enter into the power organization, then realizing the peaceful transition of power. Election can also supervise the power implementation efficiently, thus enhancing the stability of politics. The election within the Party, in addition to the function of popular election, is one of the most important tools to preserve the Party's progressiveness. Competition is the soul of election, while election in turn is the core of democracy, so the election of township Party secretary is the key of the promotion of democracy at the grass-roots level.The second chapter is about the origin of open recommendation and direct election of township Party secretary. With a review of the history of township Party system, we can learn more about the leading role of the township Party secretary played in the administrative system at the township level. Through analyzing the nomination rules and electing procedures of the candidates in the township Party secretary election system (which is called traditional election system, as distinct from open recommendation and direct election), it can be pointed out that the disadvantage inherent in the traditional election system lies in the likelihood of forming personal attachment between different ranks, so that it is difficult to avoid corruption in promotion, which may weaken the Party's legitimacy. The disadvantages of traditional election system itself are the internal factors. The external factors of the reform include: the demands of the increasing social and economic development on the reform of the traditional election system; the development of democratic election at grass-root level, which has laid down the base for the reform; some policies such as multi-candidate election within the Party, elective cadre reform and enhancing the building of democratic election at grass-root level, which have promoted the development of open recommendation and direct election; the need to solve practical problems at the grass-root level as well as the advocating of some cadres with peculiar features, which have started the reform.The third chapter is about the development and characteristics of the open recommendation and direct election and democracy built in Mulan Town. Taking Mulan Town of Xindu District in Chengdu City as a case study, this chapter will introduce the aspects concerning the open recommendation and direct election and establishing of democracy at the grass-root level in Mulan Town. The characteristics of the open recommendation and direct election of township Party secretary are: firstly they have changed the multi-level indirect election of the traditional election system into a single-level direct election; secondly the members in the leading group are recommended by the township Party secretary; thirdly the operation of election process is open and standardized, with the complete supporting systems. The aspects of establishing democracy at the grass-root level which supports the open recommendation and direct election include:"Three Meetings"in which the masses participate in and make decision in government affairs;"Three Affairs"in which the channels of supervision are open;"Three Reports", which builds the supervision platform;"Three Connections"which broadens connections between cadres and the masses; and assessment procedure, in which their work efficiency is evaluated democratically and comprehensively. The establishing of democracy in Mulan Town has made clear for whom the power is responsible and enhanced the supervision of power.The fourth chapter is about the accomplishment of the open recommendation and direct election and democracy construction at the grass-root level. The open recommendation and direct election of township Party secretary has broadened the scope of political participation, which in turn improve the effect of political involvement; realized the returning of power to the citizen, showing its progressiveness; it has made the voice of rights and obligation more clear, bettering the power operation mechanism; it solved the contradiction between the responsibility for the superior ranks and for the lower ranks by the township Party secretary; it has eliminated the black-box operation and implemented the principle of recognition by the masses; it has also broadened the channel for promotion of competent cadres, effectively preventing the corruption of personnel management. After the implementation of the open recommendation and direct election, the Party members and the masses in Mulan Town become more active in political participation and the grass-roots democracy has been further deepening; the Mulan government has managed to shift from a management-oriented to a service-oriented one, and optimized its climate for economic development, so that its economy has achieved rapid development.The fifth chapter is about problems and suggestions. The problems in the open recommendation and direct election lie in the fact that there is a lack of the standard procedures in the reform, and there is no enough supporting system for the reform. More efforts should be made to summarize and better the system of the open recommendation and direct election, and further push the reform of the supporting systems. In addition, the eligibility restrictions should be properly loosened, and the standard election procedures should be established. The grass-root election system within the CPC should be modified as soon as possible through expanding scale, accumulating experience and gradually standardizing to institutionalize the open recommendation and direct election of township Party secretary. Besides, it is recommended that such supporting systems concerning term target responsibility, democratic evaluation and office removal should be established.In the conclusion part, it is the implications of the open recommendation and direct election in Mulan Town. Now that the conditions for the open recommendation and direct election are ripe, we should actively promote the reform of the open recommendation and direct election; we should push the building of democracy at the grass-root level with the reform of the elective system as the core; we should attach much importance to the institutionalizing and systematization of the establishing of democracy at the primary level; we should insist on and improve the Party's leadership in the construction of democracy of the grass-root level.