The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in
last November set developing socialist democratic politics and
building socialist "political civilization" as a major part of the
Party's mission to build an "overall well-off society" in China by
the year of 2020. The multi-candidate direct elections for
villagers committees and urban community neighborhood committees
are being carried out vigorously to incarnate this ideal in cities
and villages across the country.
The Xianyukou community election
March 22, 2003 is an ordinary Saturday, but for residents living in
the Xianyukou Community, Qianmen Street, Chongwen District,
Beijing, the day is special. This day they cast their votes to
directly elect new managers for their community.
Early in the morning, the courtyard of the Xianyukou Community
Residents Committee bustles as people crowd into the meeting place
for the election. Banners carry the slogans "Cherish democratic
rights and cast your solemn vote" and "Do the work of the Community
Residents Committee election well" and hang high around the place.
On one side of the courtyard stand the verification office,
registration office, voting documentation office, vote slip writing
office and the signing office. At the short interval before the
meeting, a yangge (popular rural folk dance) troupe from the
community performs yangge and a fan dance.
The Ma Wenling, 72, took ten members of his and his son's (in-laws)
family to the election meeting. They live in 19 Changxiang Ertiao,
Qianmen Street, a place in the Xianyukou precinct.
"We held a family gathering during the nomination stage to adjust
our position and decide on candidates. I have lived for tens of
years experiencing old and new societies in China and it's the
first time for me to experience such a thing. We know who are the
best; capable and honest," Ma says loudly.
At
8:00 am the election meeting begins. The solemn sound of the
Chinese National Anthem floats above the alleyways. Once the
president of the meeting announces the names of the head voting
inspector, ballot scrutinizers and members of the staff, he
explains the guidelines on filling in ballot papers and the
electorate begin getting their ballots, filling them in and casting
them one by one.
At
the election site Duan Shaodong, an old man living at 20 Xinchao
Hutong, tells the profile of each nominee to his almost blind wife:
filling in and verifying the votes for her according to her
instructions. He says that he and his wife's opinions are largely
the same but differ on a few nominees but they let the differences
be. Zhou Deqin and his wife steal a short period of time from their
busy business schedule to vote. He was astonished when he was told
that he had the right to vote because he is not a permanent Beijing
resident. He comes originally from the eastern coast province of
Shandong to do business in the Xianyukou area in 1999.
"I
am a member of the community and I will vote well," he says.
The vote lasts until 19:00. Under the supervision of the balloting
scrutinizers, the votes are called out and counted. Around 23:00,
the result of the voting is announced: Yin Hongxia, the former
director of the residents committee from 2000 is elected new
committee director, getting 2,272 out of the 2464 votes. Another
nine people out of 12 nominees are elected members of the residents
committee. The community has an electorate of 2,546. Among the
2,467 votes issued 2,464 are returned. Many residents stay in the
courtyard of the residents committee warmly applauding as the
president of the meeting announces the result.
Yin gives her inaugural speech right away: "What does a residents
committee do?" she says, "We do everything the residents expect; we
deal with everything the residents are dissatisfied with!"
A
storm of applause rises up.
High rate of participation
The Xianyukou community consists of 11 zigzagging interconnected
hutongs (alleyways) with 1,470 households and 3,150 residents.
"To make the election a real general election, the street and
community authorities used various means: establishing publicity
stations, publishing blackboard newspapers, hanging slogan banners
and distributing letters to local residents, to make the event
known to as many people as possible. As a result, 95 percent of the
residents living in the community knew about the election with over
96 percent of the population of the community participating," says
Zhang Xiulan, a member of the Xianyukou Community Election
Committee.
According to Li Jianguo, director of the Grass-roots Political
Power Office of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, 15 communities,
including the Xianyukou Community, have adopted direct elections
among the 124 communities in Beijing selected as pilot sites for
neighborhood committee elections. Each procedure: establishing
election organizations; nominating members of community election
committees; verifying qualifications of voters; choosing election
approaches and deciding final candidates for voting, is carried out
by residents' assemblies according to law.
Li
also mentions other major changes in the elections.
First, the electorate has been expanded to include representatives
from government departments, enterprises and public institutions
stationed within a community and immigrants who have lived in the
community for not less than one year into the body of voters. The
other two parts of an electorate for community elections are
residents with permanent residence who are registered in the
community and residents living in the community but with their
permanent residence registered in other areas of the city.
Second, the old nomination approach has been abolished as every
qualified voter now has the right to nominate. The nomination
should be jointly signed by no less than ten people. A person can
also put themselves forward to be a candidate.
Third, the multiple candidate approach has been adopted for all
elections. For example, voters of the Xianyukou community elected
nine members for its neighborhood committee out of a total of 12
candidates nominated by 938 nominators. Another candidate nominated
was dropped from the final candidates' list during the election
process.
Fourth, candidates for the first time are given the chance to carry
out public "election campaigns." One week prior to the election all
the candidates can meet the electorate, address them and field
their questions in meetings.
The election comes in the wake of Beijing's adjustments for
communities and reform of community administration. By June 2003,
over 200 of Beijing's some 2,400 communities, will adopt the
multi-candidate direct election measures.
Improving community administration
Beijing City's multi-candidate resident community direct elections
are regarded as a bold move to explore the means to realize the
urban grass-roots democratic election process.
"The direct election of urban community neighborhood committees
effectively enhances and promotes the building of a transparent
socialist political "civilization" that fully demonstrates the
vitality of socialist democratic politics with Chinese
characteristics," says Yuan Dayi, an associate professor at the
Party School of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.
Yuan has been devoted to the study of grass-roots democratic
elections in China over the years and he has witnessed the entire
process of the election in Xianyukou.
Although direct election at grass-roots level is the current trend,
it may not be applicable to every urban community neighborhood
committee, according to some others. Direct election by every
resident as well as indirect election by representatives of
residents are necessary for the time being because situations
differ from one community to the other. Factors that might
influence the feasibility of an election model include: the natural
environment, population density, residential structure and
residents' wishes for a community.
The Xianyukou community is packed in dense bungalows and residents
there are familiar with each other. However, bonds between
residents and their employers have weakened over time: now they are
"people of society" more than they are "people of (working) units."
The local neighborhood committee has a lot to do with their
interests and the direct election is appropriate for the community.
But for those communities still in the shadow of the "unit" system,
indirect elections are preferable because the interests of resident
are subsumed by the interest of the employers who are less
concerned about community affairs.
Grass-roots democracy in the spotlight
Even though of low rank and limited power, community neighborhood
committee officials play an important role in having direct contact
with city residents and handling miscellaneous affairs. The birth
of the neighborhood committee attracted much public interest
because the body is so closely linked to the interests of its
residents. Also, civil rights have been further realized thanks to
the direct election of community neighborhood committees.
"Community is where our hearts are" is not a mere slogan but truly
representative of the transformed relationship between residents
and the community they live in. When people from "units" are
gradually remolded into people from "society," things affecting
their interests will begin to take place in the community rather
than at work.
As
the status of neighborhood committees rise, greater recognition and
support from local residents will be vital to improve their
management.
The rate of participation in Beijing's direct community elections
is currently at 96 percent, clearly indicating a bright future for
neighborhood committees and better relations for committees and
residents.
(China.org.cn by Chen Chao, April 19, 2003)