Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Huge election

Nearly 3,000 legislators? Remind me, how were these delegates elected? Who voted for them?

China elects 2,980 deputies to national legislature

A total of 2,980 deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, have been elected and are awaiting final confirmation.

A report on the election of new NPC deputies, from 35 electoral units across the country, was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for confirmation Friday…

Zhang Dejiang (C, rear), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), presides over the opening meeting of the Committee

"The deputies to the 13th NPC make up a broad cross-section with each region, ethnic group and sector of society having proper representatives," said Xin Chunying, deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, elaborating on the report at the meeting.

The elections were legal and the qualifications of all deputies are valid, according to a commission of the NPC Standing Committee in charge of checking their validity…

Lawmakers agreed that the 12th NPC Standing Committee has performed its duties well during its five-year tenure, with new progress made in theoretical and practical innovations to the system of people's congresses, and in the building of socialist democracy and rule of law, according to a statement issued after panel discussions Friday afternoon.

"The NPC Standing Committee has firmly safeguarded the authority and core status of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core," the statement said…