Hu pledges changes to election system

By Wu Jiao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-10-15 13:58

A top Party leader on Monday pledged to revise the current electoral ratio of deputies to the people's congresses, and proposed that "both urban and rural areas gradually adopt the same ratio of deputies to represent the population."

Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), made the proposal at the opening ceremony the 17th CPC National Congress while addressing socialist democracy in his speech.

Currently, the ratio of urban deputies to people's congresses -- the country’s legislative bodies -- has generally outnumbered those from the rural areas.

For instance, the ratio between urban deputies and their represented population is four times that of their rural counterparts in the latest round of the National People's Congress.

Hu's proposal came amid increasing calls for balancing the deputies’ ratio from both the urban and rural sides in the congresses to make the legislative body better represent people across the country.

The president also said "deputies to people's congresses must exercise their functions and powers in accordance with the law and maintain close ties with the general public."

Hu also pledged to strengthen the institutions of standing committees of people's congresses and improve their membership composition in terms of intellectual background and age.