Research On The Competition In The Election Of People’s Congress

Article 2 of the Chinese Constitution sets the system of People’s Congress as the fundamental political system of China, which is the choice of historical practice as well as the solid foundation for the construction of Chinese democratic politics. As a result, it is a crucial part of the Chinese political reform to explore and improve the system of People’s Congress. The People’s Congress deputies get their qualification via multi-candidate election, of which comprehensive cognition, reformation and perfection are of vital importance to the Chinese political life. Relative to single-candidate election, the multi-candidate election means that candidates outnumber deputies to be elected. According to the Electoral Law of the People’s Republic of China for the National People’s Congress and the Local People’s Congresses(hereinafter referred to as the Electoral Law), the margin percentage between official candidates for People’s Congress deputies and deputies to be elected in the direct election differs from that in the indirect election, which results from China’s population distribution as well as the development law of the system of People’s Congress, and conforms to the scientific and democratic nature of election. Moreover, the margin percentages of both direct and indirect election are chosen from a legal range instead of being single and fixed, which protects the independent suffrage of the electoral committee as well as the standing committee of People’s Congress to a certain extent, and enhances the electoral efficiency via avoiding splitting votes too much due to too broad electoral percentage. Meanwhile, as the main channel to choose official candidates for People’s Congress deputies, procedures of recommendation, discussion, preparation, negotiation and preliminary election have been set up in the electoral system of People’s Congress deputies, which ensures the procedural justice in the election.Nevertheless, we need to be aware that the Chinese multi-candidate election and the margin percentage remain to be perfected. Firstly, the legislation on the election of People’s Congress deputies varies from place to place, namely, there are some inappropriate phenomena in practice and several fuzzy words in the text despite the guidance of the Electoral Law, which disorders the election of People’s Congress deputies. Secondly, the procedure determining the margin percentage lacks transparency, which makes black box operation and electoral corruption possible. Thirdly, although the margin percentage can enhance the electoral efficiency via simplifying the electoral procedure, it is too small to match the higher and higher enthusiasm of Chinese participating in politics, and under the social background of a growing economy and people’s increasing political demands, the multi-candidate election system will become a mere formality if we turn a deaf ear to the voice of people. Fourthly, the candidates’ margin percentage tends to its minimum in real election, namely, in order to simplify the electoral procedure, the margin percentage between official deputy candidates and deputies to be elected is determined at its legal minimum, which breaches the legislative intent of the multi-candidate election and becomes a common problem nationwide. In addition, procedures of candidates’ recommendation, discussion, preparation, negotiation and preliminary election in China have loopholes in both legislation and practice. All the above counter the legislative intent of the Electoral Law, hinder the further reformation and perfection of the system of People’s Congress, and increase the frequency of electoral bribery, which requires our deep thinking and reflection.Confronted with all these problems, we shall explore in practice and take various proactive and effective measures as the proper solution, such as enlarging the margin percentage, enforcing the law strictly, establishing and perfecting the relevant system of electoral supervision and relief, etc, which can ensure that the election of People’s Congress deputies meets the will of the people, help to improve the system of People’s Congress and fasten the steps of establishing democratic politics.