Chinese lawmakers to vote on amendment to Electoral Law

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers on Sunday will vote on a draft amendment to the Electoral Law, which grants equal representation in legislative bodies to rural and urban people, after nearly a week's deliberation.

The amendment is regarded as part of China's efforts to narrow the urban-rural gap. It requires "both rural and urban areas adopt the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in elections of people's congress deputies."

The draft has been deliberated by nearly 3,000 lawmakers at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) since March 8, and the NPC Law Committee has made a few revisions according to the opinions of the deputies.

The revised draft has adopted the proposal that the amendment explicitly stipulate "family members or close relatives of candidates should not act as balloting scrutinizers and tally clerks" in the elections of deputies to people's congresses, according to the presidium of the session, which held a meeting Saturday presided over by NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo.

The Law Committee ruled out some lawmakers' proposal to abolish, or reduce the number of, "proxy votes" over the concerns of malpractice, explaining that proxy voting has played a role of ensuring electorates' rights while they are absent over the past three decades' practice.

However, it promised proxy voting can be further improved by clarifying relevant procedures.

The Electoral Law was enacted in 1953 and completely revised in 1979. It then underwent four minor amendments.

At Sunday's concluding meeting of the annual parliament session, lawmakers will also vote on draft resolutions on the work report of the NPC Standing Committee, and the work reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Wang Wanbin, vice secretary-general of the session, said the NPC deputies have submitted 506 motions to the session.