Election Law amendment proposes equality

One of the issues topping the agenda of this year's NPC session is the draft amendment to the Election Law. Vice-Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, Wang Zhaoguo, outlined details of the amendment on Monday morning. The draft pushes for equal representation in people's congresses for rural and urban people.

    Full Text: Explanation on China's draft amendments to electoral law

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Studio interview with expert on China's draft amandment to electoral law

NPC deputies are deciding whether to pass the fifth amendment to the 57-year-old Election Law.

The amendment proposes changing the ratio of rural to urban deputies in the people's congress.

Since 1953, the ratio has been changed at almost every amendment to the Election Law.

When the law was revised in 1995, the ratio was set as four to one.

The latest draft amendment pushes for this ratio to be revised to equal representation of rural and urban deputies.

Wang Zhaoguo, Vice-president of NPC Standing Committee, said, "Since 1995, China's industrialization and urbanization has rapidly accelerated. This has led to an improvement to people's cultural, social and economic well being. The urban population in China has increased from nearly 30 percent in 1995 to over 46 percent in 2009."