History, Present Situation And Reform Of China's Electoral System

The system of election in the modern era in China traces its origin from the end of the Qing Dynasty or the beginning of People's China, which had been shaping up during the sovereignty of the Northern Warlords and the Kuomintang. The system of election of new China originated directly from the revolutionary bases under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party during the period of New Democratic Revolution, and has been developed and improved since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Current system of election in China has the following characteristics, i.e. universality and equality of the voting rights, co-existence of direct and indirect voting, multi-candidate election and equal-candidate election, and the confidentiality of voting and election. The main functions of election lie in that it is the fundamental access to the realization of the socialist democracy; it legalizes the basis and resources of power of the government; it accesses the people to the participation and enhancement of political consciousness; it is also an important mechanism of maintaining social stability. However, there still exist some problems in the system of election such as divorce of theory and practice, inadequate democracy, inadequacy of election system and practicality, occasional violation against the law of election, hence lacking impartiality and publicity. The guiding principle for the reform of system of election is the theory of election of Marxism, and the aim of reform is the establishment of socialist democratic system of election with mature theory, all-round procedures, lawful practices, and strict supervision. So the system of election must adhere to the unity of party leadership and people's masterdom, the unity of deepening reform and maintaining social stability, as well as the combination of pioneering testing zones with the overall forwardness of the election of the whole country, and lastly the combination of accumulation of historical experiences of China and the borrowing of advanced theory from other countries. The content of reform in the system of election in China is the expansion of the range of direct election, elimination of the difference of voting rights between the people in the urban and rural areas to realize multi-candidate election and establish election campaigning system. It also aims to realize the system of area representatives and single candidate in one election district to enhance the qualifications of the candidates and cut down the number of membership of the National People's Congress, and strengthen the supervision of the process of election. The ensuring mechanism of election is to develop the democracy within the Party, establish the legal position of the National People's Congress, and to strengthen the education of law and democracy.