ELECT FOR OUR OWN: Farmers in Tibet Autonomous Region vote for the new villagers’ committee
China is making progress in the building of political democracy, but it still has a long way to go. From a macro viewpoint, this development requires a gradual approach and the building of people’s political awareness. As another round of villagers’ committee elections begins, Professor Wang Changjiang, a professor at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China, shares his views on electoral democracy and how China’s current system compares with that of Western countries.
The full development of socialist democracy is a major issue in China’s modernization, and its continuous improvement is the fundamental task of the ruling party. As the building of political democracy progresses, elections do not equate to democracy, but they are an indispensable component to secure the ultimate realization of democracy.
Time to elect
We should make the interrelationship between democracy and elections clear. As we know, democracy means a designated government where people share in directing the activities of the state. Though the people are the custodians of power, it is impossible for a specific person to realize the power on his/her own. Usually, the most practical solution is to authorize the representatives of the people to use that power. To date, the best way to select the representatives of the public is through elections.
For that reason, the Marxists have never downplayed elections. On the contrary, when the Paris Commune decided to hand down its administrative, judicial and citizen education powers to those elected, who should be impeached by the people if the winners of the elections are wrong, Marx hailed the practice. Therefore, elections and democracy are well connected. Elections represent the public’s authorization and its control over the elected administration. Without such restraints, the role of representatives is meaningless. In human evolution, an election is a prerequisite for representative democracy. For certain reasons based on China’s actual conditions, we copied the mode of governance of the Soviet Union in a long period after the founding of the People’s Republic and the overemphasis on centralized state power hampered the development of socialist democracy. However, we never abandoned electoral democracy, because we understood that to be the nature of a state.
No one size fits all
The way democracy is practiced in the West is absolutely impossible in China. It is not an excuse to resist political reform on the way toward democracy, but it is determined by China’s reality.
In Western countries, registered parties compete in an election, and the winner governs the country. Elections are surrounded with much pomp and ceremony. The process requires some key elements, for example, competition between multi parties, a range of candidates for the people to choose from, and of course the votes of the public. Not mutually exclusive, these elements coexist in the Western political mechanism. However, it is noteworthy though the multiparty system requires more candidates, several options don’t necessarily indicate the adoption of a multiparty system. One party can recommend more candidates, and several small parties may form an alliance to share one representative candidate. The public could select among multi parties or the candidates from one single party. Perhaps it is more reasonable to call it multiparty democracy instead of electoral democracy.
The elections are not patented for capitalist countries, neither are democracy, liberty, equality and human rights. As a socialist country, our current political system is also well positioned for democracy.
Gradual democracy
Admittedly, electoral democracy has been challenged in rural China. In remote villages, direct election of villagers’ committees was set back by conflicts and even violent clashes among people from different ethnic and interest groups, harking back to a form of clan-based rule. On the other end of the spectrum, the rich can be elected through bribing senior officials. As vote buying spreads, election disputes are increasing.
In my opinion, democracy represents the interests of different social groups and classes. When people from all walks of life defend self-benefits and interests, the conflicts are unavoidable. It is naïve to believe that, in a socialist society, there won’t be conflict. Likewise, the ruling party, the Communist Party of China, and the Chinese Government are responsible for orienting democratic development that is more conducive toward long-term progress. The popularity of villagers’ committee elections shows the great enthusiasm in democracy of Chinese farmers. We should inspire more ordinary Chinese to join in, as it provides a good opportunity to instill a culture of democracy and to advance the process in a smooth order.
People’s government
Some people argue it seems that socialist democracy is contradictory in itself. According to them, if the leadership role of the ruling party is preserved, the people have to surrender some of their political rights. Conversely, if we hold on the power of the people, the centralization of state power will be weakened. As a matter of fact, these people misinterpret the ruling party’s leadership as a monopoly of power.
Generally speaking, the public right to vote will decide who to elect to serve the people.
It is true that the leadership of the Communist Party of China will not hamper the Chinese people from realizing their rights, but will support and guide the people to better manage the state. In elections, the Communist Party of China also provides candidates for people’s reference but ultimately respects their decisions. I think the competitive elections and anonymous ballot casting have shown our progress in recognition of modern democracy.
Other forms of democracy do not clash with electoral democracy, instead they are complementary and help to secure and guarantee the rights of the people.