The people's congress system is an important means to realize China's democracy and also a key to guarantee the running of the country by the people, an official said on Friday.
China's democracy, officially known as a "whole-process people's democracy", consists of two key concepts: "whole process" and "people's democracy", Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, said at a news conference.
"Whole process" means people take part in the entire process of democratic elections, consultations, decisionmaking, management and supervision to ensure that "the people are the masters of their country", Zhang said.
And "people's democracy" is the essence and core of socialist democratic politics. China has formed a comprehensive and extensive institutional system, with the people running the country. It has also established a well-rounded socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, with the Constitution at its core, providing a solid institutional and legal foundation for the development of China's democracy, he said.
Highlighting the people's congress system as a crucial institutional vehicle for realizing whole-process people's democracy, Zhang said people's congresses at all levels assume important responsibilities in the process.
He called for people's congresses at every level to extend people's political participation, strengthen the protection of human rights and guarantee people's rights in every field and every aspect of work.
China currently has about 2.62 million deputies to people's congresses at all five levels: township, county, city, provincial and national. About 2.48 million deputies, or 94.5 percent of the total, are at the township and county levels, and they are directly elected by residents in their districts, according to the NPC.
"Democracy is not an ornament, not for decoration. Instead, it's to solve people's problems. Whether a country is democratic or not, practice is the most convincing indicator and its people have the biggest say. There is no exact same democracy in the world, nor is there an identical democratic system or a one-size-fits-all model of democracy," Zhang said.
He added that the democratic political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is real and effective democracy rooted in Chinese history and culture, adding "there is no best democracy".
As for peoples' congress deputy elections, Zhang said the latest round of elections of deputies at county and township levels is about to close, with the participation of more than 1 billion voters directly. City, provincial and national deputies are elected by lower level deputies.
As deputies serve terms of five years, this year's annual meeting will be the last session of the 13th NPC. In the following week, deputies will deliberate the draft decisions on the number and election methods to elect deputies to the 14th NPC, according to the official agenda.
"The elections are carried out through a series of institutional arrangements ... to fundamentally guarantee the rights of voters and make sure they can elect the ones they trust based on their will," Zhang said.
