March of socialist democracy

With the maturing of political consultation, democratic supervision and political participation, the CPPCC will play a more significant role in the political and social life of the Chinese people, further vitalizing the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the CPC's leadership.

Democratic elections have been carried out in almost all Chinese villages to champion self-governance at the grassroots level. Democracy at the grassroots level is the starting point of making people the masters of the country. In urban and rural community governance, grassroots public affairs and public welfare undertakings, it is necessary to realize self-management, self-service, self-education and self-supervision to guarantee that people exercise their lawful democratic rights.

In May, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a document on the procedural rules of elections to village committees and self-governing bodies at the grassroots level in rural areas. The document gives detailed voting rules, such as secret ballots and open vote-counting procedures, which provide institutional guarantee for promoting fair and orderly elections to village committees.

Over the past year, the scope of grassroots self-governance has widened and its channels have increased because of the increase in people's orderly participation, promotion of information disclosure, and intensified consultations and power supervision. People now enjoy more practical democratic rights, and government management and grassroots democracy have realized dynamic integration.

Streamlining administration and delegating power to lower-level bodies is crucial for the country's administrative system reform. The 18th CPC Central Committee has highlighted the transformation of government functions and deepened reform in the country's administrative system by separating government administration from the management of enterprises, public institutions and social organizations.

And the State Council, the country's cabinet, has abolished or transferred to local governments a host of administrative approval powers. As an important part of China's democratic political construction, the process of streamlining government administration has been expedited.

China's forward-looking reforms have throughout 2013 infused vitality into socialist democracy. There is now greater scope for people to exercise their right to know about, be heard and participate in, and supervise government matters. These are signs that the road of socialist democracy will become increasingly wider with the passage of time.

The Chinese version of this article first appeared in People's Daily.

(China Daily 01/04/2014 page5)