Every citizen with political rights can be legally elected as a deputy to the people's congress at county and township level

The new round of local people's congress elections at the county and township level is approaching and has attracted widespread public interest. There's a heated discussion in the media and among netizens about the so-called independent candidates.

The debate reflects the need to explain and protect people's "right to be nominated" in accordance with the law, as under the current institutional framework of China's Constitution and the Election Law, there is no such a thing as an independent candidate.

However, independent candidate is not a legal term, it simply refers to those candidates for deputy to a local people's congress who are directly nominated by voters, rather than nominated by parties or organizations.

According to Article 29, Clause 2 of the Election Law, parities or organizations can singularly or jointly nominate candidates to be deputies to the people's congress and "more than 10 qualified voters can jointly sign to nominate candidates to be a deputy to the people's congress". Eligible candidates can seek nomination by qualified voters, or they can passively accept a nomination.

According to Article 34 of China's Constitution, any Chinese citizen over the age of 18, except those who are deprived of their political rights according to the law, no matter what his or her ethnic background, race, gender, occupation, religion, educational background, financial situation or length of residence, qualifies to vote and be elected.

While it might sound like an independent candidate is one type of candidate, and there is another kind of candidate that is dependent, under China's Constitution and the Election Law there are three steps that all candidates need to fulfill if they are to be elected as a deputy to the people's congress at the county and township level.

First, they should be nominated by an organization or 10 or more qualified voters; second, they should be determined as official candidates by the electoral organization; third, they should take part in the election as official candidates.

Although the procedure is rather complicated, eligible candidates have a good chance of being elected as a deputy to the local people's congress if they follow all the legal procedures. Even if the so-called independent candidates are nominated properly, they still have to accept evaluation by the electoral organization. Individuals can't influence the procedure.

China's Constitution and the Election Law guarantee eligible candidates' right to be elected as a deputy to the people's congress. The right to be elected includes the right to equality, the right to be nominated, the right to introduce oneself, the right to know, the right of competition, the right of being elected, and the right of abstention.

The right of equality means that anybody who has the right to vote has an equal chance of being elected as a deputy to the people's congress.

The right to be nominated means anybody eligible can seek nomination in a legal way. During the election process, candidates have the right to introduce themselves to the voters, know other candidates' information, and deliver their ideas. After candidates are elected to be a deputy to the people's congress by the voters, they have the right to accept it or not.

Hence, it's time we further specified the meaning and connotations of the right to be elected at the theoretical and institutional level. We should encourage qualified voters to participate in the election of deputies to the people's congress through due legal procedure.

Every citizen with political rights can be legally elected as a deputy to the people's congress through his or her own efforts, which is an unalienable right vested in the Constitution and Election Law.

The author is a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article first appeared in Study Times.

(China Daily 06/23/2011 page10)