China cannot rush reforms needed to democratise its legislative system
Zhou Zunyou says any solution to widespread vote-buying and other problems must be orderly
On January 2, a senior Chinese official, Tong Mingqian, was reported to have been sacked and expelled from the Communist Party for his role in an electoral scandal in Hengyang , Hunan province. A total of 518 delegates of the city's 529-member People's Congress were found to have taken bribes for electing 56 delegates to the provincial assembly. Three other delegates were accused of neglect of duty.
The crackdown was part of China's ongoing anti-corruption campaign initiated by the Communist Party's new leaders.
It also exposed the scope and gravity of graft in Chinese political life. Of the 529 Hengyang lawmakers, only eight were not involved. Authorities said the scandal represents a serious challenge to the so-called "people's congress system", one of China's fundamental political systems.
In China, there are five levels of people's congresses: the National People's Congress and people's congresses in provinces, cities, counties and townships. These congresses are similar to parliaments in the West.
Democratisation alone cannot eradicate corruption, as shown by experience
Delegates in counties and townships are "directly" elected through a system of "one man, one vote". At the national, provincial and municipal levels, they are elected "indirectly" from and by people's congresses at the next lower level.
