Grassroots Democracy Vigorous in Rural China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, May 17, 2003

Grassroots Democracy Vigorous in Rural China

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Lu Yong, an amiable and soft-spoken farmer, has taken an active role in his township elections since last August, when he was one of the 12 farmer deputies chosen from over 20,000 residents to vote for the township head.

Many villagers talked with Lu in the fields and at his home in Xihu Town of Tongling City of east China's Anhui Province, after he became a deputy.

"Farmers long for a sincere and pragmatic leader," said Lu. "They hoped I would vote against anyone who is ineffective or wastes money."

Farmers are taking part in the grassroots elections for township cadres, which is a breakthrough in grassroots democracy in rural China, said Lu.

"As a deputy, I have the right to elect the heads of the township people's government and our village committee," he said. "What's more, I have the right to recommend the communist head of the town, although I'm not a communist. This is significant progress!"

Xihu Town was one of the earliest towns in China to try appointing grassroots cadres through democratic elections.

"We are giving the primary election rights to villagers," said Cui Houhuai, head of the town. "A township head would not be appointed if he lost 50 percent of the votes of a selected group."

On election day, Xihu villagers, including those working in other places, turned out to watch the voting. Hundreds of farmers waited outside until the results came in.

A farmer named Xiang Xianze was elected head of the township committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"In the past, it was a higher-level communist committee that appointed the cadres," said Cui. Ordinary people didn't have the right to elect them, so it was regarded as a private election by a small group of people."

"But now it's not the case anymore. Xiang is not a cadre who was appointed in advance, but he gained wide public support," said Cui. "It proves that people have more say in elections today."

"The election reform in Xihu Town doesn't go against the Charter of the CPC. In fact, it has a profound effect of expanding democracy, which entitles non-communists to recommend communist cadres," said Yu Fengxiang, head of the rural section of the provincial organization department of the CPC. "It was impossible in the past."

Elections for deputies to town-and county-level people's congresses and village heads are regarded as two pillars of grassroots democracy in China.

An awareness of grassroots democracy has been swelling since China formulated the Organic Law of the Village Committees in 1987,according to which the village committees are directly elected by villagers who thus are able to manage their own affairs independently.

To date, all rural areas of the country have carried out this law. What's more, such grassroots democracy has expanded from 600,000 villages to 40,000 towns. Like Lu Yong, more and more farmers are entitled to vote for their township heads.

In Anhui, the first location of China's rural democratic reform,99 percent of villages, covering over 50 million farmers, are entitled to vote in democratic elections. Systems have been set up to ensure the progress at village levels, such as councils, boards of supervisors and a system of villagers' congresses.

Thanks to the ongoing fee-for-tax reform in over 20 provinces, levies formerly imposed by village and township heads arbitrarily on farmers have been axed, which has stabilized the democratization process in rural China.

According to the reform, the funds for village infrastructure must be collected and used through the consultation and democratic decision-making process of the villagers instead of arbitrary or secret control by the cadres.

Along with Xihu, further attempts toward democratization are being made in other villages of Anhui, which have been welcomed by farmers.

The participation of ordinary farmers changed the closed and secret operation of township cadre appointment to a public one, and ensured them of basic democratic rights, said Shao Banglong, head of the organization department of Tongling City.

Those cadres who are elected by farmers have a strong sense of responsibility and great working pressure, for they must be responsible not only to the higher departments but also to the ordinary people who elected them, Cui said.

The democratic election of township cadres in rural areas inspired Chinese farmers, which will bring a vigorous future to the democratic reform of the whole country, experts said.

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