Study On The Voting Rights Of Floating Population In China

The floating population is a social phenomenon coming along with theeconomic development. The floating of population brings both advantagesand disadvantages to the social development, so that a good lead and usewill greatly promote the social development while a bad lead and use willbring inestimable adverse effect to the economic development and socialstability. Therefore, it has been a very important and crucial issue forthe government to strengthen the management of population, especially themanagement of the floating population. The Report of the eighteenthNational Congress of the Communist Party of China also points out thatthe management of and service for the floating population should bepromoted and innovated. This is why strengthening the management of thefloating population is not a makeshift but a long-term and historicalstrategy. However, although the floating population is growing bigger andbigger, which in some areas is even more than the permanent residentpopulation, the social, political and economic status of those floatingpopulation are relatively weak, and they are seldom heard in the management of the national and social affairs. They are not able to enjoysome rights they should be entitled to, especially the political rightssuch as the rights to vote and to be elected. In particular, in some directelection at the county level, representatives of the floating populationare rarely elected. The2010Amendment of the Electoral Law of thePeople’s Republic of China for the National People’s Congress and LocalPeople’s Congresses attract the public attention on the voting rightsagain, especially on the voting rights of the floating population. Thepractice of the voting rights of the floating population is an expressionof the fundamental civil rights as stipulated in the Constitution, areflection of the principle that all people are equal before the law, away for every stratum of the society to completely express politicaldemands and an important promotion for the approval and practice ofInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in China.With regard to the voting rights of the floating population, the FirstPart of this Thesis describes the definition and characters of thefloating population, the definition and features of the voting rights ofthe floating population, and the importance of the practice of thefloating population’s voting rights. The Second Part analyzes thecurrent legislation on the voting rights of the floating population inChina, and further analyzes the current status and main problems existingin the areas where the population are floating to and from with regardto the practice of the voting rights of the floating population througha special investigation on the floating population’s voting rights inthe Fengxian District. The Third Part discusses the reasons to theexisting problems of the floating population’s voting rights, includingthe limitations of the household register system, the restriction of theelection system, the internal problems of the floating population, theincompletion of the election supervision system, and passive attitude to the floating population’s participation in election in those areas wherethe population are floating to and from. The Fourth Part puts forwardsuggestions, including amending the regulations that the practice of thecitizen political rights is linked to the household register system,completing the election regulations regarding the designation andallocation of the representative quotas, the voter registration, thedivision of election districts, the candidates nomination and the proxy,setting up organizations for protection of floating population’sinterest, setting up and completing the election supervision and reliefsystem, promoting the floating population’s participation in theelection, strengthening the financial support for the floatingpopulation’s participation in the election, encouraging the floatingpopulation to practice voting rights in those areas where the populationare floating to and from, and etc.