SWB
FE/1224 C1/5
length of residence, with the exception of persons deprived of their political rights by law.
Taking into consideration its vast territory, large population, inconvenient transportation and relatively low economic and cultural development, China has adopted an election system appropriate to its actual conditions. That is, deputies to people's congresses at the county level or below are elected directly, while those to people's congresses above the county level are elected indirectly. This election system makes it possible for the people to choose deputies whom they know and trust. The election system has been improved in recent year on the basis of past experience. For instance, more candidates are posted than the number of deputies to be elected, instead of an equal number as before.
The right to vote has been widely exercised by the Chinese people. According to statistics from the 1990 county- and township-level direct elections, 99.97% of the citizens at 18 years of age or above enjoyed the right to vote. Generally speaking, upwards of 90% of the voters participate in the elections held in the various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
The most striking characteristic of China's electoral system is that elections are not manipulated by money and that deputies are not elected on the basis of boasting and empty promises but according to their actual contributions to the country and society, their attitude in serving the people and their close relations with the people. It is clear from the election results that the elected are broadly representative, that is, representative of people of all social strata and all trades and professions. Of the 2,970 deputies to the seventh National People's Congress, 684, or 23%, are workers and farmers; 697, or 23.4%, are intellectuals; 733, or 24.7%, are government functionaries; 540, or 18.2%, are democratic party members and patriots with no party affiliation; 267, or 9%, are from the People's Liberation Army; and 49, or 1.6%, are returned overseas Chinese.
The National People's Congress is the supreme organ of state power. It has legislative power, and elects or removes president and vice-presidents of the People's Republic of China, chairman of the Central Military Commission, president of the Supreme People's Court and procurator- general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate; and appoints or removes premier, vice-premiers, state councillors, ministers, ministers in charge of commissions, auditor-general and secretary-general. All administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs of the state are created by the National People's Congress, responsible to it and supervised by it.
Following the principle of democratic centralism, the National People's Congress adopts major policy decisions after full airing of opinions; and once adopted, these policies are carried out in a concerted effort. In this way, the People's Congress can not only represent the people's common will but also become instrumental for the people in running state, economic and social affairs. Coming from among the people, the people's deputies are responsible to the people and supervised by the people; their close contact with the masses and wide knowledge of the actual situation enable them to fully reflect the people's wishes, formulate laws suited to reality and supervise the work of government organs.
8 Nov 91
The Chinese Communist Party is the ruling party of socialist China and the representative of the interests of the people throughout the country. Its leadership position has been the result of the historical choice made by the Chinese people during their protracted and arduous struggle for independence and emancipation. the leadership of the party is mainly an ideological and political leadership. The party derives its ideas and policies from the people's concentrated will and then turns them into state laws and decisions which are passed by the National People's Congress through the state's legal procedures. The party does not take the place of the government in the state's leadership system. The party conducts its activities within the framework of the Constitution and the law and has no right to transcend the Constitution and the law. All party members, like all citizens in the country, are equal before the law.
The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party is the basic political system that gives expression to people's democracy. It guarantees that all social strata, people's organizations and patriots from various quarters can express their opinions and play a role in the country's political and social life. There are in China eight democratic parties apart from the Communist Party; they are the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic League, the China Democratic National Construction Association, the China Association for Promoting Democracy, the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, the China Zhi Gong Dang (Party for Public Interest), the Jiu San Society (3rd September Society) and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League.
Cooperation between the Communist Party and these democratic parties took shape during the democratic revolution before 1949, the year new China was founded. The leading role of the Communist Party in the cooperation is recognized by the democratic parties as it has been evolved in long years of common struggle. These democratic parties shared with the Communist Party the same basic political ideas whether in the struggle for overthrowing the "three big mountains" or during the period of building new China. Enjoying political freedom and organizational independence, all these democratic parties have developed greatly. They are neither parties out of office nor opposition parties, but parties participating in state affairs.
As China's ruling party, the Communist Party repeatedly asks these democratic parties for their opinions on every major state affair and consult with them for solutions. Relations between the Communist Party and the democratic parties follow the guideline of "long-term co-existence and mutual supervision, treating each other with full sincerity and sharing weal or woe". Full play has been given to the role of the democratic parties in participating in and discussing state affairs, democratic supervision and uniting all the people. Many members of the democratic parties have assumed leading posts in organs of state power, government departments and judicial organs. Of the 19 vice-chairman clected by the seventh National People's Congress at its first session, seven are members of democratic parties. Nearly 1,200 members of the democratic parties and personages with no