Western "one man, one vote" system is inapplicable to China

By Yan Ru

Many Western media or politicans criticize that there is no equal election system in China, and Chinese people live in a status where their opinions and advice cannot be adopted. Is that true? What is the real Chinese election system? How is it formed? Does western "one man, one vote" system fit for Chinese society?

I would say NO as I don't believe it's applicable to Chinese society, even if the people's living standards and educational levels have risen markedly.

Why is it unrealistic?

First of all, we should address historical reasons. In a western political context, elections often relate to the competition among different political parties. The society is composed of different interest groups, and each group has its own representatives, gambling between capitals and interests. In a sense, it's the origin of a multi-party system.

Instead of the West's "partial interests" , China pursues "overall interest", behind which is the country's long-standing cultural political tradition.

This stands in line with Confusion classics - the "Great Unity" of the society, is in a situation where the world is for the public and well managed by those with virtue and good abilities. And China was the first country to invent a civil service examination system, known as "keju". In early 20th century, many pioneers turned their eyes to the West for a road to save China. They tried to adopt the parliamentary and multi-party system for China, but it only led to fractions and the country's separation.

After the CPC established the system of people's congresses, the Chinese people could make their own decisions with deputies expressing overall ideas.

Second, social structure. China is a multinational country with a population of around 1.4 billion, the number is equal to the total population of 100 ordinary European countries in total. If everyone wants to run for president or vote the president, who will manage the process? How much controversy will it cause and how to avoid the capital-controlled election? Look at the current U.S. elections, the turnout rate was overall 55%, with the approval rate for victory around 52%. That is to say, only 55 of 100 voters participated in the election, and the winner only got half of the 55 ballots. That is unacceptable from a Chinese perspective, which means more than 10-million people may not feel satisfied with the results. Can you still say it's a reasonable system?

What's more, for most Chinese citizens, they care more about achievements in regards to poverty alleviation, advancements in technology, improvements of life quality and environment. China has shown its efficiency over pandemic control and lifted all poor households from bad situations. These shows advantages of China's social system, which may not be understood by other countries. While it's generally considered that "democracy" means "one person, one vote", the Chinese and the CPC focus more on people's livelihoods.

(The views don't necessarily represent those of the CCTV.com.)