The year 2001 has seen grassroots democracy expanding from rural
parts of China to urban areas, a move described by sociologists as
a break-through in the country's political system.
Li
Baoku, vice-minister of civil affairs, said thousands of residents
in several cities elected their community councils and leading
council officials for the first time on the Chinese mainland in
2001.
The cities include Shanghai, Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu
Province, Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, and Guilin,
a city famous for its scenic karst landscape in southern Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, Xinhua News
Agency reported.
In
a circular issued at the end of last year, the central government
urged cities across the country to reform the community management
system by setting up self-governing organizations through
democratic elections.
Gu
Yingchun, a sociologist, said, "The move is conducive to promoting
the construction of an urban political system."
"What's more important is that the practice of direct election has
been expanded from rural China to the urban part of the country,
resulting in the expansion of the grassroots democracy in China and
an important breakthrough in China's construction of democratic
politics," Gu said.
During a recent community-level election in Jingfang community in
Hangzhou, a 15-member council, a five-member community committee
and head of the committee were elected out of 39 candidates by
secret ballot.
The candidates in Jinfang, the only community selected from
Zhejiang Province to hold such an election, were chosen by an
election committee made up of local urban residents.
Before the votes were cast, several hundred residents gathered at a
local primary school, where each of the six smiling but apparently
nervous candidates made a three-minute campaign speech on what they
would do for the community if elected.
They were competing for the post of the head of the Jingfang
Community Committee, a job described last year by Chinese Premier
Zhu
Rongji as the "prime minister" of a community.
Nearly 80 percent of the families in the community, or 1,280
households to be exact, voted during the election and the results
were announced on the spot.
Feng Zirong, a 66-year-old retired worker, said the poll
demonstrated respect for the will of the residents.
According to a local regulation, the head of the neighborhood
committee must report each month to the community council on the
work of the committee.
Bao Hong, a 63-year-old retired engineer and member of the council,
said the officials of the committee used to be appointed by the
higher authorities and reported only to them.
The experience of casting votes for community leaders may be a
novelty for about 400 million urban residents, but not for their
900 million rural counterparts.
Wang Jinhua, an official in charge of community elections with the
Ministry of Civil Affairs, said farmers began to elect village
leaders as early as 1988, and almost all of the 730,000 villages
have elected heads of village committees.
(eastday.com December 13,
2001)