China National People's Congress: elections, term of office

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The National People's Congress is the Supreme State Authority of the People's Republic of China. Among its members is the Standing Committee (PC NPC). We will describe in detail the powers, terms, work and deputies of the National People's Congress in this article.

Timing

The term of office of the National People's Congress reaches five years. It is the responsibility of the Standing Committee to organize the election of a new NPC 60 days before the end of the term of office of the existing NPC. If, due to force majeure, such elections cannot be organized, then by law they can be postponed, and the period of work of the existing NPC can be extended by a decision that is approved on the basis of a vote of more than 2/3 of the NPC PC.

NPC Formation Procedure

Elections for the National People's Congress are held 2 months before the termination of the powers of the current department. The election process is indirect, i.e.contains several stages, and lasts, as a rule, 60 days. Moreover, military personnel and civilians vote separately. For ordinary citizens, the procedure is as follows: first, elections are held for provincial assemblies from counties and villages, then for assemblies of megacities from districts, and only then the formation of the NPC is carried out. Military personnel and employees of defense industry enterprises elect representatives of the regiment. From among these delegates, the All-China Congress of Representatives of Soldiers and Officers, and from them candidates for the NPC are selected.

Number of constituencies

In China there is a group of large constituencies: 23 provincial; 5 - in independent (autonomous) regions; 4 - in metropolitan areas of federal subordination; 1 each in special administrative districts of Hong Kong; District 1 is assigned to military personnel. Small nationalities of the PRC (de jure there are 55 of them), in accordance with the Basic Law, must have at least one deputy in the NPC.

This body is dominated by the communists. There are 8 other parties, but their influence is negligible.

Representatives in the legislature can be citizens of the country who are over 18 years old. Voting is allowed from the same age. Deprived of the right to elect and be elected are people whose political rights have been taken away (criminals and persons accused of attempting to undermine stability and coup).

NPC members

NPC members cannot be called professional legislators. A member of the National People's Congress combines his ordinary work with his activities in the NPC, and is obliged to promote uninterrupted communication with the people. The legislation of the People's Republic of China specifically emphasizes the fact that an elected deputy must communicate with the structures that elected him and the population of the country, report on the points of view, petitions and complaints of people and be a conscientious servant of the people. The authenticity of the legal status of a member of the National People's Congress is controlled by a special body, which is a structural subdivision of the Standing Committee (credentials commission). The functional composition of the Standing Committee sends initiatives, criticism and its own position expressed before the National People's Congress to the competent structures or institutions, and they must respond to them within 90 days after the end of the session, but no later than six months. If the deputy is not satisfied with the answer, then he is given the right to submit appropriate comments sent by the NPC PC to those structures that sent the answer.

Deputies cannot be prosecuted or detained without the approval of the Presidium of the NPC (or the Standing Committee if the old session has already ended and the new one has not yet begun). If a member of the NPC is caught red-handed by law enforcement agencies, they must immediately notify the above departments.

NPC Operations

The National People's Congress functions in sessions. Latestare held once every 12 months (as a rule, at the end of the first-beginning or middle of the second quarter of the year) and last 14-21 days. Each year, the meeting is organized by the PC of the NPC, on which an appropriate decision is made. It indicates the time of convocation, questions for discussion. Before the beginning of the session, this state body holds a preparatory meeting, which is chaired by one of the senior officials of the committee. At such a meeting, the composition of the presidium is formed, regulations are developed and a list of issues is drawn up that will be submitted for discussion in the NPC.

The work of the session involves holding meetings of the presidium, working discussions of delegations of deputies, as well as plenary meetings. At the latter, key issues are discussed. For example, reports on the work of the State Council, departments and other higher central institutions; issues related to financial planning of revenues and expenditures of the treasury; adoption of major legislative changes (reforming the provisions of the Basic Law of the PRC).

The NPC is also the legislature, but most bills are approved by the PC NPC.

The presidium is considered the main structural unit of the National People's Congress.

Standing Committee of the National Assembly

This body works in conjunction with the existing NPC. In practice, since the termination of the work of one assembly and the beginning of the work of another, he has been fulfilling the key tasks of the National People's Congress. The department has several powers,characteristic of the head of state. As a rule, it includes about one and a half hundred people, along with the head, his deputies, the head of the secretariat and officials of this institution. Moreover, members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China do not have the right to work in supervisory departments, as well as in executive and judicial authorities. The heads (head and his deputies) of this organization are prohibited from holding key positions for more than two consecutive terms. This rule does not apply to ordinary members.

The composition of the competence of the PC can be divided into 2 groups: its powers and the powers performed in the period between the end of the old and the start of the functioning of the newly elected NPC. The former include clarification of the provisions of the Basic Law, legislation and constitutional supervision; lawmaking; supervision of the activities of the State Council, the Central Exhibition Commission, the highest body of state supervision, the highest judicial instance; approval of international agreements; introduction of a state of emergency in the country. The latter include the incomplete reform of the legislation adopted by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China; changing provisions in the budget adopted by the NPC; declaration of war and conclusion of peace with other states. The list of powers of the NPC PC is not closed. The standing committee is elected for 5 years. In his work, he is guided by the regulations. The pressing issues of the activity of this department in the intervals between its meetings are decided by the clerical unit that is part of it.

Legislative Procedure

The Presidium of the NPC, the Standing Committee, special commissions of the National Assembly, the State Council, the highest judicial and supervisory instances can propose a bill; groups of people's representatives (minimum thirty people) and delegations. The algorithm for considering initiatives will differ depending on who initiated them.

Draft regulations proposed by all but 30 deputies and delegations are sent for study by delegations or they can be sent to specialized institutions (commissions). Then the presidium decides whether to send them for discussion to the National Assembly of Deputies.

As for the initiatives put forward by the deputies themselves or the delegates, the situation is different here. There are 2 ways: the presidium immediately sends the draft normative act for discussion in the National People's Congress or it sends it to a special authority (commission) for study. Thanks to this order, there are 2 "filters" for refusing consideration before the start of discussion on them in the NPC.

The stage of discussions regarding the draft normative act is spelled out in the regulations. If the legislative initiative is on the agenda, then at the meeting, explanations are listened to, and then the draft normative act is subject to study in each delegation, the commission of legislative initiatives and special departments. Then the commission of legislative initiatives combines all comments and generates a report for the leading structural unit of the National People's Congress. It, in turn, passes it to the deputies and after a certain period of timecarries out the vote. The latter's algorithm is not contained in the Regulations.

The author of the draft normative act has the right to abandon his idea before the start of the voting on the bill. In such a situation, the consideration of the relevant initiative is "slowed down", and with the approval of the presidium, it is completely completed.