Electoral Law of the People's Republic of China on the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses (2004 Revision)

Electoral Law of the People's Republic of China on the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses

(Adopted at the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress on July 1, 1979; revised for the first time in accordance with the Resolution on the Revision of Certain Provisions in the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress on December 10, 1982; revised for the second time in accordance with the Decision on the Revision of the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 18th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on December 2, 1986; revised for the third time in accordance with the Decision Regarding Revision of the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on February 28, 1995; amended for the fourth time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress about the Amendments to the Election Law of the People's Republic of China on the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses was adopted at the twelfth session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on October 27, 2004.)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Number of Deputies to the Local People's Congresses at Various Levels
Chapter III Number of Deputies to the National People's Congress
Chapter IV Elections Among Minority Nationalities
Chapter V Zoning of Electoral Districts
Chapter VI Registration of Voters
Chapter VII Nomination of Candidates for Deputies
Chapter VIII Election Procedure
Chapter IX Supervision, Recall and By-Elections Held to Fill Vacancies
Chapter X Sanctions Against Disruption of Elections
Chapter XI Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions
　
Article 1 The Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses is formulated in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.
　
Article 2 Deputies to the National People's Congress and to the People's Congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall be elected by the people's congresses at the next lower level.
Deputies to the people's congresses of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, autonomous counties, townships, nationality townships, and towns shall be elected directly by their constituencies.
　
Article 3 All citizens of the People's Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 shall have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnic status, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, property status or length of residence.
Persons who have been deprived of political rights according to the law shall not have the right to vote and stand for election.
　
Article 4 Each voter shall have the right to vote only once in an election.
　
Article 5 Elections shall be conducted separately in the People's Liberation Army, and the procedures for such elections shall be formulated separately.
　
Article 6 Among deputies to the National People's Congress and local people's congresses at various levels, there shall be an appropriate number of women deputies, and the proportion thereof shall be raised gradually.
The National People's Congress and the local people's congresses of the areas with a relatively large number of returned overseas Chinese shall have an appropriate number of deputies who are returned overseas Chinese.
Citizens of the People's Republic of China who reside abroad but who are in China during the election of deputies to people's congresses at or below the county level may take part in such elections conducted in their ancestral home town or place of domicile before they went abroad.
　
Article 7 The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall conduct the election of deputies to the National People's Congress. The standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall conduct the elections of deputies to the people's congresses at the corresponding levels.
In cities divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, autonomous counties, townships, nationality townships, and towns, election committees shall be established to conduct the election of deputies to the people's congresses at the corresponding levels. The election committees of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties and autonomous counties shall be under the leadership of the standing committees of the people's congresses at the corresponding levels. The election committees of townships, nationality townships, and towns shall be under the leadership of the standing committees of the people's congresses of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties and autonomous counties.
The standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall direct the work of electing deputies to the people's congresses at or below the county level in their administrative areas.
　
Article 8 Election funds for the National People's Congress and the local people's congresses at various levels shall be disbursed by the State Treasury.

Chapter II Number of Deputies to the Local People's Congresses at Various Levels
　
Article 9 The number of deputies to the local people's congresses at various levels shall be determined in accordance with the following provisions:
1. The base number of deputies to the people's congress of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government is 350. For a province or an autonomous region, one more deputy may be added for every one hundred and fifty thousand people, and for a municipality directly under the Central Government, one more deputy may be added for every twenty-five thousand people. However, the total number of deputies may not exceed 1,000.;
2. The base number of deputies to the people's congresses of a city divided into districts or an autonomous prefecture is 240. One more deputy may be determined for every twenty-five thousand people; however, if the population of the city or autonomous prefecture exceeds ten million, the total number of its deputies shall not exceed 650;
3. The base number of deputies to the people's congresses of a county, an autonomous county, a city not divided into districts or a municipal district is 120. One more deputy may be added for every five thousand people; however, if the population there exceeds one million six hundred
fifty thousand, the total number of deputies shall not exceed 450; if the population is less than fifty thousand people, the total number of deputies may be less than 120;
4. The base number of deputies to the people's congress of a township, a nationality township or a town is 40. One more deputy may be added for every one thousand five hundred people; however, if the population of a township or a nationality township exceeds ninety thousand, the total number of its deputies shall not exceed 100; if the population of a town exceeds one hundred thirty thousand, its total number of its deputies shall not exceed 130; if the population of a township, a nationality township or a town is less than two thousand, the total number of its deputies may be less than 40.
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