The Ruling Party And The Development Of Contemporary Chinese Election

Legitimacy is people's identity with a certain political order based on the belief to some social value norms. It is the basis of all long-lived political systems. In modern party government, as primary power owners, party must strive for people's identity with obtaining, controlling and exercising public authority by itself, i.e. ruling legitimacy. The basis of modern parties'ruling legitimacy is very abroad, which the legal-rational basis is the most firm and key one. The Communist Party of China is a ruling and leading party. Its ruling legitimacy is more important in the circumstance of long-term ruling. After the Reform, it has changed rapidly that the structure of ruling legitimacy basis of the CPC. Ideology basis has been adjusted, political achievement basis has been dominant, legal-rational basis has been strengthened and still weak. Along with the acute economic and social transition from planned economy to market economy, the historical orientation of the CPC is confronted with the transition from revolutionary party to ruling party. In new historical orientation, traditional ruling legitimacy basis of the CPC has been challenged and legal-rational basis will be strengthened urgently.Election is the essential symbol and primary process of modern democracy. Electoral development is the major phenomenon of political democratization. Electoral development is the historical process which includes innovation of electoral regulation, enlargement and gradual assurance of electoral rights, unceasing improvement of correlative political mechanisms and functions. However, it is very complex that the relation between election and parties'ruling legitimacy in modern political systems. Some conditions will be needed if elections become the ruling legitimacy basis of modern parties. One is the ideological precondition that people believe the theory of people sovereignty. Another is the legal basis that the constitutional system is ensured by nomocracy. The other is that elections exert many important political functions. But elections may result in ruling legitimacy crisis, if elections lack of justness and freedom, political communities are too weak, administrative achievement of elected governments is frequently low-level, especially in the countries which are experiencing political democratization.Common grounds exist in the relation between ruling legitimacy of the CPC and the elections of contemporary China. However, some particularities exist in the relation, because of the influence of political institutions with Chinese characters, such as People's Congress institution, Party leading government systems, Multi-Party Cooperation and Political Consultation institution, Center leading Locations. The most obvious particularity is that elections within the CPC are same important for strengthening ruling legitimacy. But in practice, many errors in Chinese elections have impaired the CPC's ability to gain ruling legitimacy from elections. These errors include shortcomings of design principles, serious malpractices in electoral operations, simplification of...