To begin with, the question - which planet country is the second largest, in terms of the number of citizens involved, democratic elections? India takes first place. Who's the another one? United States? No, incorrect answer. The second place on the box in this category is ...... China.
Every 3 years, the full agrarian population in China elects its village chiefs and members of agrarian committees in free, democratic elections. According to the 2020 census, 510 million people live in agrarian areas, while the villages themselves (smaller and larger ones) are about 1 million. In another words, 36% of the Chinese population can systematically participate in democratic elections in which it elects about 1 million of its representatives. It doesn't precisely fit the description of authoritarian dictatorship and totalitarian government that China keeps sticking to, does it? I'll come back to the tag thread. For the time being, I would like to give the Distinguished Readers a small insight into the past of these democratic elections (in 35 years!), mention to the actual number of voters and chosen, and describe the prerogatives of the village chief (i.e. the power he has).
Spoiler! – It besides happens that in these democratic elections – attention – the local secretary of the party, or associate of the KPC!
A word about terminology. I premeditatedly usage the word “headmaster” alternatively than “soldier” due to the fact that the legal binding is different, more specifically in the section devoted to prerogatives.
History
Officially, the first reforms to elect the village chief and members of agrarian committees began in 1987 with the adoption of a temporary Organic Law on agrarian Committees requiring that the election of members of the agrarian committees be mandatory in all villages. The law entered into force in 1988 and allowed a comparatively large freedom in its implementation, allowing local experimentation with dimension of word and item of regulations regarding candidates, vote, validity of votes, etc.
After 10 years of experimentation a fresh was introduced Organic Actwhich clarified a number of issues. A certain local specificity is inactive allowed, although regulations are harmonised at the region level – that is, all villages from the region must have identical rules.
Election run
Elections are held all 3 years. All villagers with local hukou (family report) who were 18 years of age may participate in the elections. In the election for village chief and a associate of the agrarian committee, a resident of the village may compete. It doesn't should be KPC. Voting is classified. Electoral agitation is allowed, but organization committees supporting candidates are not allowed, nor political agitation is allowed. On the another hand, it is allowed to put up electoral posters, walk around the home and promise “tries on willow”. The list of eligible votes is open and available before the elections begin. The votes shall be counted in public.
The election process is monitored by a "rural electoral committee" of 5 people. Its tasks are to draw up an election calendar, to specify the voting methods, to encourage the villagers to vote, to accept applications from candidates, to draw up a final list of candidates and to make it public and to set the date of the elections.
Voters shall besides have the right to dismiss a associate of the agrarian committee (including the warden) if they are not satisfied with the way he holds office. A written request shall be required giving the reasons for the request for an appeal from the post signed by at least 20% of those entitled to vote. If more than 50% vote for the proposal, the individual afraid is dismissed and supplementary elections are held. The procedure is not purely theoretical – in 2000 517 village heads and 783 agrarian committee members were recalled in the Mongolian Autonomous Region.
Local specificity: There are different voting procedures in different places. There are besides a variety of voting rights for those who no longer live in the village, but who inactive have the right to ownership of a common (little) village, specified as women who have married people from another villages, or migrant workers who have not appeared in the village for many years. There are besides different methods of reporting candidates for warden, although the model in which the villagers themselves study candidates prevails.
There are besides different ways to choose the village chief. Sometimes on the ballot it is written straight who is moving for chief of the village and who is simply a associate of the agrarian committee. On the another hand, sometimes the names of candidates do not specify the position, and the warden is the 1 who receives the highest number of votes.
The choice of 1 of the members of the agrarian committee, namely the organization Secretary, is besides very different. By definition, he is simply a associate of the KPC, but the way he chooses is very different. It is sometimes chosen by a higher authority (e.g. a region or city). It is sometimes chosen by local organization members. On the another hand, the name of the party's candidate for secretary is sometimes placed next to the names of the candidates for politician of the village. This is simply a kind of vote of confidence. If the candidate fails to get at least 50% of the vote, he shall be considered to be “indecent to hold the position of organization Secretary”
Prerogatives
In theory, the village's top power is the general assembly of the villagers (all over the age of 18). It may amend the decisions of the agrarian committee and revoke its members. In practice, however, it is held very rarely, and all day the village affairs are delegated to the agrarian Committee, which usually includes 10 people, including village chief, organization secretary and 8 members. It besides took (although not everywhere) that at least 3 women should be included in the agrarian committee.
The agrarian Committee is not formally part of a government structure, it is referred to in Chinese law as a "self-management" unit. So the village chief is not formally a associate of the government structure either (that's why I don't call him chief in the text). However, he is entitled to a wage (although not very great), he is besides obliged to implement recommendations, plans and rules laid down by the government in the managed area.
The Chinese taxation strategy is heavy decentralised and many public services are financed from local funds and government subsidies. After the removal of the agricultural taxation in 2000, local governments are more based on government subsidies, especially in low income areas.
So what are the prerogatives of the village chief? It is responsible, among another things, for distributing funds for the construction of roads, bridges, waterworks, sewerage, electricity – that is, the infrastructure in general, but besides for financing schools and wellness facilities. However, he is not a passive contractor of top-down plans. Its tasks include, inter alia:
- Planning and implementation of infrastructure improvement projects and raising backing for them. The warden must regularly visit region and city offices, search backing from various sources: poorness control offices, agricultural offices, forestry offices, planning and improvement offices and others. Sometimes village residents besides participate in specified projects, both financially and providing labour;
- managing the funds raised and ensuring an adequate level of public services and implementing government plans;
- deciding on the circumstantial areas of the village (village) and in what order the funds will be distributed;
Clearly, this is both a large work and real power. And ‘ speaking of power, I have yet to discuss the question of the division of power between the organization secretary and the village chief. The Organic Act does not specify this issue by simply stating that they “manage together”. Contrary to appearances, this does not mean that, by definition, the secretary of the organization rules. rather the opposite. According to the investigation available to me, in about 76% of the villages surveyed, it was the village chief who had the decisive vote. Nevertheless, this is simply a substance of rather local differentiation and depends on local arrangements.
A small about numbers and labels
Not all organizational unit referred to by the word village has a agrarian committee, sometimes they are grouped together respective and managed by 1 committee. At the time of submitting candidates, at least 1 typical of each of these villages shall enter the agrarian committee. This gives us about 650,000 administrative units, for which an average of 10 (9 if you number off the organization secretary) members of the agrarian committee are chosen all 3 years. That gives us an average of 5,850.000 people elected in democratic elections all 3 years. The number of people surviving in a typical Chinese village ranges from respective 100 to respective 1000 inhabitants. How many people vote? As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, there are 510 million people in China who have agrarian hukou. Of course, any of them are migrant workers who have not been in their native village for years. However, any of them now return to the countryside (for various reasons), while any specifically return to their place of residence for elections. It is so hard to estimation the real number of participants in agrarian democratic elections. I'm judging her at about 300-350 million.
We can so conclude by defining 2 labels, which I hope, will lead any of you to wonder at the inadequacy of any "stucks".
Chinese authoritarian regime – a state strategy in which 25% of the population all 3 years elects almost 6 million of its direct representatives in free and democratic elections.
American Liberal Democracy– a state strategy in which 4 million citizens are deprived of voting rights due to the region of residence. * Oh, my God *
*For the less-oriented in the meanders of American democracy: residents of 4 American territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Virgin Islands) are not allowed to participate in the presidential elections;
Editorial: Leszek B.
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