China News Service, Beijing, December 4 (Xie Yanbing) Guo Zhenhua, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said in Beijing on the 4th when discussing the system of the Chinese People's Congress that China's people's congress representatives are not professional politicians and do not represent any special interests.
On the same day, the Information Office of the State Council of China held a press conference on the white paper "Democracy in China".
Guo Zhenhua talked about the difference between the Chinese People's Congress system and the Western system.
He pointed out that the original intention and essence of China's implementation of the people's congress system is to realize that the Chinese people are the masters of the country.
The election of deputies to the Chinese People's Congress, which is the foundation of the system of the People's Congress, has two distinctive features.
First, the voting rights of Chinese citizens have the broadest universality.
According to the Constitution, all Chinese citizens who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and to stand for election, except for those who have been deprived of their political rights in accordance with the law.
Currently, China is undergoing general elections for people's congresses at the county and township levels, with more than 1 billion voters participating in the elections.
This is the most vivid practice of people's democracy in the whole process of China, and it is also the largest election in the world.
Guo Zhenhua emphasized that the first "Election Law" of New China in 1953 established the universality of the right to vote.
This is in contrast to the fact that it took hundreds or even hundreds of years for Western countries to realize universal suffrage in the legal sense. China has implemented a veritable universal election in one step.
Regarding the universality of voter participation, that is, the election rate, since the reform and opening up, China has conducted 12 direct elections of township-level people's congress deputies and 11 direct elections of county-level people's congress deputies. The voter participation rate has remained at around 90%.
Regarding the source of election funds, China’s National People’s Congress election funds are spent by the state treasury, which effectively guarantees that money cannot be used for elections.
Second, China’s NPC deputies have the broadest representation.
"In China, it can be said that every region, every industry, every field, every nation has representatives of the National People's Congress."
Regarding the people's congress deputies reflecting public opinion, Guo Zhenhua pointed out that the deputies of China's National People's Congress, whether they are deputies to the National People's Congress or the grassroots people's congress, are all from the people, rooted in the people, and very grounded.
Moreover, after the election of China's National People's Congress, they will not leave their original jobs.
In recent years, people’s congresses at all levels across the country have established more than 220,000 sites for representatives to contact the masses, realizing full coverage of all towns, towns, and streets across the country, and many places have also extended to communities and village groups.
People's congress representatives at all levels regularly receive the masses at these sites and listen to their opinions.
Guo Zhenhua said: "Such institutional arrangements determine that China’s National People’s Congress deputies are not professional politicians and do not represent any special interests. They can truly and directly feel what the people think and expect, and they can reflect the opinions of the people through the state authority. Suggestion." (End)