China to set NPC deputy quota according to amended electoral law
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E-mail Xinhua, March 4, 2012
China will elect deputies to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) next year according to the amended election law, which gives deputy quotas to urban and rural residents based on the same population ratio, a spokesman for the NPC session said Sunday.
Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the annual session of the 11th NPC, China's top legislature, said at a press conference that 2,000 deputies to the next NPC will be elected under the principle of equality of persons, with every 670,000 voters given a seat of representation in the NPC.
Li said that after detailed investigations and extensive public consultations, the Standing Committee of the 11th NPC submitted a draft decision on lawmaker elections for the 12th NPC to this year's NPC session for discussion.
The draft decision follows major principles set forth in the amended electoral law, including the equality of persons, the equality of regions and the equality of ethnic groups, he said.
According to the equality of persons, deputies to the 12th NPC will be elected according to the same ratio in urban and rural areas, and about 2,000 deputies will be elected in this section, with each deputy representing 670,000 people.
According to the equality of regions, each province, autonomous region and municipality will be allocated eight seats in the NPC, regardless of population size.
According to the equality of ethnic groups, some deputy seats will be reserved by the NPC Standing Committee to ensure that each ethnic group, no matter how small its population is, can have at least one seat at the NPC.
The deputy quotas for the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the People's Liberation Army will be decided according to actual conditions, Li added.
