| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui / National People's Congress |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| LEGAL FRAMEWORK |
| Electoral Law |
1 July 1979
Last amendment: 1997 |
| Mode of designation |
indirectly elected 3000 |
| Constituencies |
- 23 provinces
- 5 autonomous regions
- 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government
- special administrative regions (Hong Kong; Macau (from 1999)) |
| Voting system |
Majority:
Absolute majority vote.
Deputies are elected by the people's congresses of the country's 23 provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities directly under the Central Government, and by the armed forces (PLA), the size of each college of delegates being related to the number of electors in the constituency. The minimum number of Deputies from sparsely-populated provinces and autonomous regions is 15. Since 1997, the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong also elects Deputies; these currently number 36.
National People's Congress (NPC) Deputies are elected from multi-candidate constituencies, i.e. there are more candidates than seats. All candidates are nominated through a process of democratic consultation from bottom up and top down.
Candidates are elected by absolute majority vote within their respective electoral units. If the candidates obtaining such majority vote exceed in number the Deputies to be elected, these obtaining the most votes are considered elected; if less, another election is held and those obtaining the most votes (but no less than one-third of the votes casts) are elected. The allocation of the number of Deputies to the NPC- which may not exceed 3'000 - is decided by its Standing Committee in accordance with the principle that the number of citizens represented by each rural Deputy is four times that represented by each urban Deputy (880,000 people to 220,000). The number of Deputies elected by minority nationalities - which, according to the Constitution, are all entitled to appropriate representation - is also allocated by the Standing Committee, in light of the population and distribution of each nationality; they are chosen by the respective people's congresses and their number totals
approximately 12% of that of the NPC. Nationalities with exceptionally small populations have at least one Deputy.
Vacancies which arise between general elections are filled through by-elections. |
| Voter requirements |
- age: 18 years
- Chinese citizenship
- disqualifications: insanity, deprivation of political rights according to the law |
| CANDIDATES |
| Eligibility |
Qualified electors
- age: 18 years
- Chinese citizenship
- ineligibility: insanity, deprivation of political rights according to the law |
| Incompatibilities |
(data unavailable) |
| Candidacy requirements |
- candidates may be nominated by a political party and/or various people's organizations (acting either jointly or separately) or a group of at least 10 Deputies of the same constituency |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Electoral system module
