(1) selectivity
Selectivity means that according to the arrangement of the village Committee election system, voters, as the main body of rights, enjoy relatively full right to choose, so that they can realize their will independently and without interference. Voters' right to choose runs through the whole process of election, including the right of voters to choose the presiding organ, preliminary candidates, formal candidates, scrutineers, vote tellers and tellers, the final winner, and the re-election of village Committee members during their term of office. The more distinctive system design is as follows:
(1) Presiding over the election. As the specific presiding organ of the election, although the village committee election is temporary, it plays an important role in the organization and implementation of the election. Its importance is reflected in the following aspects:
1. Presiding over organs is the premise of election activities. According to the provisions of the local election method on the election responsibilities of villagers' committees, all links, such as publicizing relevant laws and regulations, making election implementation plans, determining and training election staff, registering voters, organizing nominations and determining candidates, determining the specific time and place of elections, organizing voting, announcing election results, summarizing and reporting election work, and establishing election work files, are inseparable from the election presiding organs.
2. The nature of the presiding institution affects the nature of the election. Election is a unity composed of a series of links, and each link of this unity is inseparable from the organization and management of the election presiding organ. If the presiding organ is appointed or manipulated by a specific interest group, the election will deviate from the will of the voters and become a tool to serve the specific interest group.
3. The activities of the presiding organ affect the realization of citizens' right to vote. The static right of citizens to vote stipulated by law can only become a reality if it is mobilized by the election presiding organ. In some elections, the presiding organ is appointed or selected by some people, which is not conducive to maintaining neutrality. In the election of village committees, in order to make the election presiding organ only responsible for the will of voters, the electoral system has made the following provisions on its emergence, number and withdrawal: First, members of the election committee are elected by villagers' meetings or groups to prevent them from being manipulated and controlled by an organization or interest group; Second, the number of members is odd, generally not more than eleven, so that in case of disagreement, a decision can be made by voting according to the principle that the minority is subordinate to the majority; Third, once members of the Election Committee become official candidates, they will withdraw from the Election Committee. This is to prevent candidates from taking advantage of their position in the Election Committee for personal gain.
In the 1999 election of village committees in Shaanxi Province, the election of village committees in Shaanxi Province was basically elected by voters, and the county and township governments and village party branches were not appointed, designated or instructed, which was welcomed by the villagers. [ 1 1]
(2) Direct nomination of preliminary candidates. Nomination right, like voting right, is an important part of voters' voting right. If the voters can't control the nomination, the candidates are predetermined, or selected by an organization or unit, then the voting rights of voters are incomplete. According to Article 14 of the Organic Law of Village Committees, candidates are directly nominated by villagers who have the right to vote in the village. Individuals can nominate 1 voters (including self-recommendation), or several voters can jointly nominate. Direct nomination by villagers is the only legal nomination method, and "consultation", "designation by superiors" and "organization nomination" are all excluded.
After the implementation of this regulation, the township government and the village party branch no longer set the tone and draw a frame for the nomination of candidates, but completely handed over the nomination right to voters, realizing the free nomination of villagers, breaking the monopoly of power of specific organizations in the nomination of candidates, and making the nomination right truly become the free right of every villager. After the implementation of direct nomination, the phenomenon of "more than two" generally appeared in local elections, with more voters participating in the nomination and more voters being nominated. In Beilaohao Village, Lishu County, Jilin Province, individual voters are free to nominate, and the ratio of the number of elected directors, deputy directors and members to the number of nominees is 1:25, 1:29, 1: 19 respectively. [12] Such a wide and free nomination has enabled candidates to have a broad mass base, and villagers to have more adequate choices, which has enhanced villagers' trust and sense of participation in the election and is conducive to the smooth progress of the election activities.
(3) Pre-selection to determine official candidates. How to select an appropriate number of formal candidates from a large number of preliminary candidates according to the difference principle is an important issue in any election. In some elections, the law stipulates that the presiding organ shall organize voters to brew, discuss and negotiate repeatedly, and determine candidates according to the opinions of the majority of voters. However, "brewing, discussion and consultation" is not a procedural way, and it is easily disturbed by human factors. In this process, the wishes of voters are often not respected, and the election presiding organ may take this opportunity to determine the official candidates according to its own wishes, resulting in de facto "referring to the election" and "sending the election". Even if the presiding organ does not violate the law, some preliminary candidates or voters may doubt the fairness of the screening process, because they do not know why they or the candidates they choose have not become official candidates.
In order to solve this problem, on the basis of preliminary candidates, according to the wishes of the majority, the official candidates are determined fairly and fairly. Local village committee election methods have made the following similar provisions: if there are more preliminary candidates nominated than the difference, it is necessary to organize pre-selection to produce formal candidates. During the pre-selection, election of villagers committee set up polling stations and secret ballot writing offices, elected scrutineers and tellers, and organized voters to vote by secret ballot within the specified time. The number of candidates filled in by voters on the ballot paper shall not exceed the number of candidates to be elected. After the voting, the votes will be sung and counted in public, and the list of candidates will be determined in the order of the number of votes won. The number of candidates should be more than one to several people to be elected.
Procedural pre-selection makes every preliminary candidate in an equal competitive position, and both winners and losers feel fair and reasonable. The winner thinks he has won glory, and the loser thinks he has lost. Because voters have mastered the right to determine the official candidates, they no longer have doubts about the pre-selection results.
(4) The right of recall gives voters the right to re-select. The villagers' right to recall is an important part of their voter rights. Without the right of recall, the villagers' right to vote is incomplete and incomplete. The right of recall always embodies the villagers' right to re-select the elected person. This right to be replaced at any time is the embodiment of voters' right to supervise and restrict the elected person, which has a strong influence on the behavior orientation and behavior mode of the elected person. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of villagers' right to recall, local election methods have strengthened the procedural guarantee of recall on the basis of the relevant provisions of the Organic Law of Village Committees. For example, "the request for recall should be made in writing to the villagers' committee and the local township people's government, and the reasons for recall should be explained. The villagers' committee shall convene a villagers' meeting to vote within one month after receiving the recall request. If the villagers' committee refuses to convene a villagers' meeting to vote on the recall case, the Township People's Government may convene a villagers' meeting and vote by the villagers' meeting. "
Less than a year after the formal implementation of the organic law of village committees, according to incomplete statistics, there are at least nearly a hundred cases in which villagers spontaneously dismiss the director of village committees or the whole village Committee team. The initiation and success of recall greatly improved the depth and effectiveness of villagers' participation and ensured the integrity and consistency of voters' right to choose. The director of the village committee of Ji Le Village, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province was elected by the town 1996, and the villagers had great opinions on this. From 65438 to 0998, the director used the opportunity of post-disaster reconstruction to abuse power for personal gain, which aggravated the villagers' dissatisfaction and began to reflect the situation to the superiors, but the problem was not solved. 1998165438+1October 4th, the villagers learned from TV that the organic law of the village committee was formally implemented, and immediately bought books to study, and then decided to jointly nominate and recall the director according to the procedures prescribed by law. 1On March 6, 1999, all villagers' meetings were held in the village, and the director of the village committee was removed in strict accordance with the procedures. From the above cases, we can see that the right of recall is very important for voters, which can even make voters move from weak to relatively strong, and to some extent, change the sense of powerlessness caused by voters' inability to fully exercise their right to vote. It is predicted that in the future, the number of cases in which villagers recall village Committee cadres will increase greatly.
(2) Competitiveness
The competition of the village committee election system is reflected in two points, one is the principle of difference, and the other is the provisions on election.
The Organic Law of Village Committees stipulates that the number of candidates should be more than the number of candidates to be elected. The election method of local village committees concretizes the principle of difference. The number of candidates for general director and deputy director is more than the number to be elected 1, and the number of candidates for members is 2 to 3 more than the number to be elected. This shows that the positions of village Committee members are all elected by difference. This has become the general rule of village committee election. In the village committee election of Hunan Province 1999, the whole province 100% of the villages conducted the differential election. [ 13]
On the basis of the difference, in order to be elected, the village Committee election system allows fair and open competition among candidates. Generally speaking, the election method for local village committees stipulates that before the polling day, the election committee shall introduce formal candidates to voters in accordance with the principles of openness, fairness and fairness, and may also organize candidates to make campaign speeches and answer questions from voters and other candidates, but the contents shall not violate the laws, regulations and policies of the state. The legalization of elections is of great significance to the election of village committees. Some observers believe: "One of the great achievements of the village committee election is that it not only publicly displays the banner of' campaign', but also has more and more substantive campaign contents." [14] Some people even call it "the boldest and most important breakthrough in rural elections in China." [ 15]
Through this provision, we can see that this kind of election is different from that in western countries: First, the election is organized by the election committee, and candidates are not allowed to carry out election activities on their own. Therefore, the campaign is fierce and planned and orderly. Second, the election campaign is a competition between individuals and has no party background. In the elections of western society, the relationship between political parties and elections is very close. "Without the support of powerful political parties, it is difficult for citizens to be nominated as candidates or elected. Therefore, only candidates proposed by political parties have a great chance of being elected, which will have practical significance. " [16] At the village level in China, there are no grass-roots organizations, and legitimate democratic parties cannot nominate candidates. According to the new "Organic Law of Village Committees" on villagers' direct nomination, the village party branch has no right to nominate. Therefore, the competition between candidates is a competition of personal moral appeal and talent, and everyone claims that their village management plan is beneficial to all villagers. Third, campaign at public expense. Western elections need to spend huge sums of money, which limits most voters' right to vote and stand for election. In the election of village committees, according to the law, village election expenses, including election expenses, are paid from collective income, and candidates do not have to pay election expenses, which is conducive to the participation of most voters.
The general procedure of the election campaign is: before the election day, organized by the Election Committee, each candidate gives a speech on village governance in front of all the villagers. The main contents include personal resume, election conditions, term goals, work measures and commitments to the villagers, and calls on everyone to vote for themselves. Candidates can ask each other questions, or answer all kinds of questions raised by voters and accept the test of voters. In order to let voters fully understand the candidates, some villages recorded the candidates' campaign speeches and played them repeatedly on village radio stations. Some villages also repeatedly broadcast videos on closed-circuit television so that voters can judge and compare at home. Some also organize candidates to go home to promote themselves.
The introduction of competition mechanism in the election has broken the deadlock in the previous elections and made the elections vivid. Candidates and voters are in a state of active participation and competition, and their direct interaction enlivens the atmosphere of the village. Elections provide equal opportunities for candidates to demonstrate their abilities and strive for election, which is conducive to attracting outstanding talents to participate in the elections and make them stand out; It is also conducive to voters to make correct judgments on candidates, make rational choices in comparison, and let people with more public opinion base and ability enter the village Committee; At the same time, campaign speeches also enhance the transparency of election work, which is conducive to preventing "underground" campaign activities and overcoming the negative effects brought by family and factionalism.
The influence of election on voters and candidates is direct and rapid, which can change the image of candidates in voters' minds and make voters make new choices. For example, there are two candidates for the director of Wangjiayuanzi Village Committee in Lishu County, Jilin Province: Liu Hewang. In the primary election, Liu got 550 votes and Wang got 464 votes. After Wang delivered his campaign speech, he left a deep impression on voters with his image of understanding the economy and doing practical things. After voting, Wang defeated Liu, who had more than 200 votes than Gao Liu, by 75 1 and was elected as the village director. In an interview after the election, a voter said, "It's very different to participate in the election and not to participate in the election. I voted for Liu in the primary election because he used to be the deputy secretary of the village party branch and generally had work experience. But after listening to Wang and Liu's campaign speeches, I changed my mind. I think Wang is pragmatic and thrifty, and can tell the truth and do practical things. Therefore, I voted for him in the official election. " Another young farmer also said, "Before the official election, I voted for myself. After listening to the campaign speech, I feel better about Wang. His village management plan and method are more practical, giving the impression that he knows the economy and has practical ability. So, I finally voted for him. I think campaign speeches have a great influence on people. " [17] Through this case, it can be seen that the election activities have built a stage for self-expression for the most ordinary farmers in China, which has made the farmers who have been silent, depressed and bound by the "face" culture for thousands of years full of vitality and vitality, making them dare and willing to choose others, being chosen in the competition, and shaping a new type of social personality.
The movement has made new progress at present. First, there is a sports registration system. 1998, Lishu County, Jilin Province has formulated the Measures for the Election of Village Committees in Lishu County, which stipulates that village committee elections shall be registered. Voters who are willing to participate in the election may voluntarily participate in the election speech. The speaker must register with the election leading group three days before the official start of the speech, fill in the registration form, hand in a speech material and promise to the villagers. Those who fail to register according to the regulations are deemed to have given up the opportunity to run for office. Second, the campaign procedures are increasingly standardized. Qianxi County, Hebei Province, is the first county in China to formulate the "Rules for Speaking in Governing Villages" in the form of county government documents, and made specific provisions on the organization, form, time, place and content of the speech, as well as the scope, order and methods of villagers' questions. Since the election system of village committees has always been good at absorbing practical experience, local innovation will certainly provide a basis for relevant laws and regulations to standardize elections.
(3) Confidentiality
The so-called secrecy refers to the election in a way that is unknown to others. In other words, only he knows who the voters voted for, who they didn't vote for, whether they voted for or against, and abstained, which can avoid the concerns of voters and show their true wishes. In order to ensure the confidentiality of voters' choice will, China's electoral system basically stipulates secret ballot, and the village Committee election system is no exception. However, the difference between the election system of village committees and the election system of deputies to the National People's Congress or the election system of the Party lies in the establishment of a secret ballot office during the election, which further develops and perfects the principle of secret ballot. Article 14 of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees stipulates that a secret ballot writing office shall be set up during the election. This provision fully embodies the principle of secret ballot and protects the right of voters to choose freely. Because the village is an "acquaintance society" and the interpersonal relationship is complicated, if the votes are written in public, the will of the voters will be easily disturbed, and clan, family and other forces may take the opportunity to supervise and interfere with the voters to achieve their own goals. This will make voters feel invisible pressure and it is difficult to really express their wishes. It may also cause confusion in the election. The establishment and use of the secret ballot writing office can effectively prevent the interference of family forces and different factions, reduce voters' worries and concerns, and express their true wishes. The innovation of ballot writing form is a major feature of village Committee election. On election day, no matter in the election venue or polling station, you can see the secret ticket writing office built by villagers according to local conditions. Some are school classrooms, some are small dressing rooms on both sides of the theater, and some are temporary structures made of screens, cartons and wooden boards. On 1999, Wu Yi inspected the process of drawing lots by secret ballot on the polling day of the village committee election in T City, Sichuan Province: "What voters value most is drawing lots by secret ballot. They believe that secret voting can fully guarantee the autonomy of voters. Write who you want, and don't offend people. The secret ticket office is located next to the outdoor aisle outside the classroom. Outside the four classrooms, more than a dozen desks are arranged in a row, and ballpoint pens are placed on the desks to draw tickets. In order to ensure the secrecy of ticket drawing, each table is separated by a certain distance. In addition, the scrutineers and tellers of each group are at the door of the classroom, and each voter can only go out of the classroom to collect the votes when he hears the staff calling his name, and then draw the votes at the desk. Only one voter can vote at the polling station at a time. After the ballot is drawn, voters will put the ballot into the ballot box. " [18] With the formal implementation of the organic law of village committees, the secret ticket writing office has become an institutionalized guarantee for farmers to freely exercise their voting rights. In the village committee elections in Hunan Province from 65438 to 0999, the proportion of secret ballot writing offices reached more than 90%.
(4) Openness
Openness is the guarantee of justice. Publicly guaranteeing voters' right to know is conducive to voters' supervision of elections. Openness runs through the whole process of village Committee election: open election procedures and specific regulations, so that voters can understand what legal elections are and know their rights and obligations; Publicize the list of voters, prevent "wrong registration", "missing registration" and "re-registration" in voter registration, and ensure every voter's right to vote; Open the number of places to be elected and the conditions of candidates, and guide voters to choose their intentions; Publicize the list of candidates and their basic information to prevent candidates from default and allocation; Open counting of votes, announcement of election results on the spot, prevention of "black-box" operation and so on.
Among them, the election of village committees is more distinctive, which is stipulated in article 14 of the Organic Law of Village Committees. The election adopts the method of public vote counting, and the opposite result is announced on the spot. In other types of elections, the vote counting process is generally not open to all voters, and the election results are announced after the election.
In the election of village committees, the public counting of votes and the announcement of election results on the spot have great influence on the psychology of voters and the fairness of election results. For voters, under their own personal supervision, the legitimacy of the procedure of publicly counting votes and announcing the results on the spot has greatly enhanced their trust in the election. In every election venue, public vote counting is a climax event that attracts voters' attention. They pay close attention to the counting process, look forward to the election results, and have a spiritual concern for democracy. When the election results are finally produced through the statistics of one vote after another, especially when the candidates are fiercely competitive, the number of votes won is the same or narrowly won by a narrow majority, voters will feel that their votes are not insignificant, but can affect the election results. "If I vote for others, the election results will be different." This will make voters cherish their votes more, change their sense of political powerlessness, and increase their sense of political efficacy and self-confidence. In addition, the openness and timeliness of vote counting and election results will help to put an end to corruption, fraud and tampering with election results caused by secret vote counting. When counting the votes in public, because the whole process is carried out under the high attention of the villagers, it is unlikely that the township government, the election committee or others will find opportunities or have enough courage to exert undue influence on the election results, thus ensuring the fairness of the election results.
The rules of publicly counting votes and announcing election results on the spot have been widely implemented and have been actively supported by villagers. In Guangxi 1999 village committee election, 87% of villages in the whole region have publicly sung, counted and announced the election results. [19] According to People's Daily199 March 18, in Zhenling Village, Chen Lin, Huazhou City, Guangdong Province, it took nearly three years from checking in, singing votes to counting votes after voting for the village committee election on June 65438+ 10/7. In some places, villagers also invited notaries to supervise the election process and finally announced the authenticity of the election results in public. The scenes described in the above cases are also common in the elections observed by the author himself. This is why the villagers are expressing their desire and support for fair and just elections with their own practical actions.
It took nearly 16 years to form the current village Committee election system, which was hard-won. Of course, this kind of election system is not perfect, and it is still developing, especially there is still a certain gap between the system provisions and the actual operation. But objectively speaking, among all kinds of election systems in China, the democratic content of the village Committee election system is the highest. From the perspective of institutional arrangements, it provides the necessary channels and space for citizens to participate, stimulates the enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers to participate, and avoids formalistic elections. At the same time, its procedural fairness has been recognized by all parties, guiding people to pursue the legalization of election procedures and ensuring the standardization and order of elections. The implementation of this unique electoral system not only has a positive impact on the practice of village Committee election, but also is a valuable resource to further promote political democratization.
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