The difficulty to nurture civil society in China is commonly known throughout the world. Anything "political" in the eye of the government, must be controlled by the government. Or else, you could be easily put into jail for crime of "subversion."
Can civil society be non-political, such as a consumer association? That's the dilemma Chinese activists face everyday. Or more precisely, all the Chinese citizens face everyday. It has become an absurd action of routine self-censorship, to make sure your action will not be viewed by government agencies as "political."
It is time for the Chinese people to reclaim their proper political rights.
Does anyone know this year is the election year of not only the American midterm, but also the People's Congress at the township and county level throughout China?
As it goes, an ordinary Chinese citizen can vote for members of the People's Congress at the township and county levels only, if your residency registration is under a county; or at the district level if you register at a municipality. All the upper levels of the People's Congress and governments are generated by indirect elections within a strictly hierarchical structure.
It is for this very limited civil right of political participation that Tang Jingling, a lawyer from Guangzhou, launched the non-cooperation campaign of "80 cents to buy back my vote." It is an action of "Not in My Name," at least not for the next five years.
Tang circulates material of his campaign online for free distribution. Still, under heavy policing, his postings are routinely deleted and his on-line account blocked.
The material is long. I'll post them in a few parts in the Chinese original, followed by another post of simple explanations in English.
-------------------
An official website published the following news story in the summer.
中国发展门户网 www.chinagate.com.cn 2006年7月26日
全国县乡两级人大换届选举开始 涉及9亿选民
July 26, 2006
Election of People's Congress at County and Township Levels Starts,
Involving 900 Million Voters
According to schedule by the Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC), the once-of-five-years re-election of the People's Congress at county and township levels has started on July 1 and will last till December 31, 2007. Seventeen provinces, including Guangxi and Qinghai, will work on the reelection in the latter half of 2006.
This election will be the broadest and most profound practice of socialist democracy, concerning as many as 900 million voters. Of the total, more than 600 million voters will participate in township election, to produce more than 35,400 township governments and more than 2,800 county governments nationwide. The direct result of the election will be more than 2 million members of People's Congress at the two levels. The congress then will work to form the government of its equivalent level. County-level People's Congress will also be responsible to form its Standing Committee, a People's Court, a People's Prosecutor Office, and to elect members of the People's Congress at the immediate upper level above county.
This reelection is a significant event in China's political life, according to an official at the NPC's Standing Committee's office. It concerns the issues that voters can exercise lawfully their democratic rights, the Party's administrative ability can be advanced continuously, and the foundation of the state can be further consolidated. It must be done according to three principles: under the Party's leadership, fully exercising democracy, and strictly according to relevant laws, the official said.
One striking feature of this reelection is to have the county and township levels reelected at the same time. The official at the NPC explained that, since direct election was expanded to county level in 1979, there have been eight times of township and seven times of county reelection of the People's Congress nationwide. This year's election is the first time to have the two done at the same time since the NPC passed a Constitution amendment to extent the tenure of township Membership of People's Congress (MPC) from three years to five years in March 2004. Holding the two levels' reelection at the same time has many benefits in cooperating planning of socio-economic development at various levels of government, streamlining personnel appointment, maintaining stability at local levels. It will also be easier for voters to participate in the election and to save administrative cost.
Because this is the first time to have reelections of the two levels at the same time, planning of schedule incorporated many factors.
As internal migrant population has risen to more than 100 million nationwide, protection of migrants' political rights in the reelection is an important issue, according to the official. Government agencies of host locale must provide help to migrants to travel back to where their resident registrations are, in order to participate in the reelection. For those who cannot make the trip back, absentee votes can be arranged through written authorization, following related laws and regulations. People having resettled in place other than their original resident registration location, but not yet having their registration transferred, may vote at location of actual residence [instead of the registration location], as stipulated by relevant laws.
China's Election Law stipulates that, to help voters learn about candidates, nominators may introduce candidates to concerned election committee or at voter's meetings; Election Committee shall introduce candidates to voters, may organize meetings between MPC candidates and voters, and shall answer voters' questions. The official pointed out, "All these specific instructions should be effectively carried out in this reelection, to improve election transparency and let voters exercise their rights better."
It is a judicial principle to have candidates numbered higher than vacated seats or posts in the MPC or local governmental elections in China. The official emphasized that this reelection must follow this principle as strictly as stipulated by the Election Law and the Law of Organizing Local Government. Meanwhile, once a local government is formed and officials are appointed, unless in rare exception, changes should not be made within the track of five-year tenure, so that local leadership can enjoy relative stability within the period. This is also to respect the election rights of both voters and the MPCs.
It has been reported that, in addition to the 17 provinces going through the reelection later this year, there are 14 others, including Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Gansu, which will start the same process next year. (Reported by WU Jing, SONG Wei, DU Wenjuan)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment