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

(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 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 on Revision of the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China at the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on February 28, 1995; revised for the fourth time in accordance with the Decision on Revision of the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China at the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on October 27, 2004; revised for the fifth time in accordance with the Decision on Revision of the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China at the 3rd Session of the Eighth National People's Congress on March 14, 2010; and revised for the sixth time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Revising the Organic Law of the Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments of the People's Republic of China, the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Deputies to the National People's Congress and to the Local People's Congresses at Various Levels, adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on August 29, 2015; and amended for the seventh time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 22nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on October 17, 2020)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Election Institutions

Chapter III Number of Deputies to Local People's Congresses at Various Levels

Chapter IV Number of Deputies to the National People's Congress

Chapter V Elections Among Ethnic Minorities

Chapter VI Zoning of Electoral Districts

Chapter VII Registration of Voters

Chapter VIII Nomination of Candidates for Deputies

Chapter IX Election Procedure

Chapter X Supervision, Dismissal, Resignation, and By-Elections of Deputies

Chapter XI Sanctions Against Disruption of Elections 

Chapter XII 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 people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall be elected by people's congresses at the next lower level.

Deputies to people's congresses of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, autonomous counties, townships, ethnic 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 ethnicity, 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 Separate elections shall be conducted for the People's Liberation Army, and the procedures for such elections shall be formulated separately. 

Article 6 Deputies to the National People's Congress and local people's congresses shall be broad-based and shall comprise an appropriate number of grass-roots deputies, especially workers, farmers and intellectuals; deputies shall comprise of an appropriate number of women, who shall account for an increasingly larger percentage.

The National People's Congress and the local people's congresses of 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 electoral expense of the National People's Congress and local people's congresses shall be included in the fiscal budget and shall be borne by the National Treasury. 

Chapter II 

Election Institutions 

Article 8 The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall conduct elections of deputies to the National People's Congress. The standing committees of people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall conduct the election of deputies to people's congresses at the corresponding level. 

In cities divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, autonomous counties, townships, ethnic townships, and towns, election committees shall be established to conduct the election of deputies to 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 level. The election committees of townships, ethnic townships, and towns shall be under the leadership of the standing committees of people's congresses of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties and autonomous counties.

The standing committees of 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 people's congresses at or below the county level in their administrative areas. 

Article 9 Members of the election committees of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties and autonomous counties shall be appointed by the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the same level. Members of the election committees of townships, ethnic townships, and towns shall be appointed by the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties and autonomous counties.

Election committee members who are deputy candidates shall resign from the election committee. 

Article 10 Election committees shall perform the following duties:

(1) Dividing electoral districts where deputies to people's congress at the same level are to be elected, and allocating the number of deputies for each electoral district;

(2) Administering voter registration, examining voters' qualifications and releasing voter lists; and receiving and handling claims of different opinions on the voter lists and making decisions accordingly; 

(3) Determining election dates;

(4) Seeking and verifying information on deputy candidates and arranging for candidates to introduce themselves; determining and releasing formally the lists of deputy candidates;

(5) Presiding over the voting;

(6) Determining the validity of elections and releasing lists of deputies elected; and

(7) Other duties as provided for by the Law. 

The election committee shall release election information in a timely manner. 

Chapter III 

Number of Deputies to Local People's Congresses at Various Levels 

Article 11 The number of deputies to 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, an autonomous region or a municipality directly under the Central Government is 350. For a province or an autonomous region, one more deputy may be added for every 150,000 people, and for a municipality directly under the Central Government, one more deputy may be added for every 25,000 people; however, the total number of deputies shall not exceed 1,000. 

(2) The base number of deputies to the people's congress of a city divided into districts or an autonomous prefecture is 240. One more deputy may be determined for every 25,000 people; however, if the population of the city or autonomous prefecture exceeds 10 million, the total number of its deputies shall not exceed 650. 

(3) The base number of deputies to the people's congress of a city not divided into districts, a municipal district, a county or an autonomous county is 120. One more deputy may be added for every 5,000 people; however, if the population exceeds 1.65 million, the total number of deputies shall not exceed 450; if the population is less than 50,000 people, the total number of deputies may be less than 120. 

(4) The basic number of deputies for townships, ethnic townships and towns is 40 and an additional deputy may be added for every 1,500 people; however, the total number of deputies shall be no more than 160. The number of deputies may be less than 40 for those administrative jurisdictions with a population of less than 2,000. 

The base number of deputies to a local people's congress plus the number of deputies added according to the size of the local population as stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be the total number of deputies to the local people's congress. 

The number of deputies to the people's congress of an autonomous region or a province where many ethnic minorities inhabit in concentrated communities may, upon the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, be increased by five percent. The number of deputies to the people's congress of a county, an autonomous county, a township or an ethnic township where many ethnic minorities inhabit in concentrated communities or where people inhabit in scattered groups may, upon the decision of the standing committee of the people's congress of a province, an autonomous region, or a municipality directly under the Central Government, be increased by five percent. 

Article 12 The specific number of deputies to the people's congress of a province, an autonomous region, or a municipality directly under the Central Government shall be determined by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress according to this Law. The specific number of deputies to the people's congress of a city divided into districts, an autonomous prefecture or a county shall be determined by the standing committee of the people's congress of a province, an autonomous region, or a municipality directly under the Central Government according to this Law and be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record. The specific number of deputies to a people's congress at the township level shall be determined by the standing committee of the people's congress at the county level according to this Law and be reported to the standing committee of the people's congress at the next higher level for the record. 

Article 13 Once the total number of deputies to a local people's congress at any level is determined, it shall not thereafter be changed. If the size of the population changes considerably due to a change in the division of administrative regions or the construction of major projects or for other reasons, the total number of deputies to the people's congress at the corresponding level shall be re-determined according to the provisions of this Law. 

Article 14 The standing committee of a people's congress or the election committee at the same level shall determine the distribution of the number of deputies of local people's congresses according to the population of lower administrative divisions or electoral districts in its jurisdiction based on the principle that each deputy represents the same number of urban and rural residents and ensuring that each region, ethic group, and body of people has an appropriate number of deputies. Townships, ethnic townships, and towns with extremely small populations shall have at least one deputy in the people's congress of a county or autonomous county. 

The method for distributing the number of deputies of a local people's congress shall be decided by the standing committee of the people's congress of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government by referring to the method for distributing the number of deputies of the National People's Congress and in light of the particular local conditions. 

Chapter IV 

Number of Deputies to the National People's Congress 

Article 15 Deputies to the National People's Congress shall be elected by people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and by the People's Liberation Army.

The number of deputies to the National People's Congress shall not exceed 3,000. 

The number of deputies to the National People's Congress to be elected by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region and the methods for their elections shall be prescribed separately by the National People's Congress. 

Article 16 The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall determine the distribution of the number of deputies according to the population of each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government based on the principle that each deputy represents the same number of urban and rural residents and ensuring that each region, ethic group, and body of people has an appropriate number of deputies. 

The number of National People's Congress deputies of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government to be elected shall comprise the number calculated based on the population, the equal base number and other numbers of deputies to be elected. 

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall determine specifically the distribution of the number of National People's Congress deputies. 

Article 17 The number of deputies to the National People's Congress to be elected from among ethnic minorities shall be allocated to the various people's congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, which shall elect them accordingly, by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in light of the population and distribution of each ethnic minority. Ethnic minorities with exceptionally small populations shall each have at least one deputy. 

Chapter V

Elections Among Ethnic Minorities 

Article 18 In areas where ethnic minorities inhabit in concentrated communities, each ethnic minority shall have its deputy or deputies sit in the local people's congress.

Where the total population of an ethnic minority in such an area exceeds 30 percent of the total local population, the number of people represented by each deputy of that ethnic minority shall be equal to the number of people represented by each of the other deputies to the local people's congress.

Where the total population of an ethnic minority in such an area is less than 15 percent of the total local population, the number of people represented by each deputy of that ethnic minority may be appropriately smaller, but shall not be less than half the number of people represented by each of the other deputies to the local people's congress. In autonomous counties where the population of the ethnic minority practising regional autonomy is exceptionally small, the number of people represented by each deputy of this ethnic minority may, upon a decision made by the standing committee of the people's congress of the province or autonomous region, be less than half the number of people represented by each of the other deputies. Other ethnic minorities with exceptionally small populations inhabiting in concentrated communities shall each have at least one deputy.

Where the total population of an ethnic minority in such an area accounts for not less than 15 percent but not more than 30 percent of the total local population, the number of people represented by each deputy of that ethnic minority may be appropriately smaller than the number of people represented by each of the other deputies to the local people's congress, but the allocated number of deputies to be elected by that ethnic minority shall not exceed 30 percent of the total number of deputies. 

Article 19 In autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, and in townships, towns and ethnic townships where a certain ethnic minority inhabits in a concentrated community, the provisions of Article 18 of this Law shall be applicable to the election of deputies to local people's congresses from among other ethnic minorities and the Han people who also inhabit in concentrated communities in such areas. 

Article 20 With respect to ethnic minorities inhabiting in scattered groups, the number of people represented by each deputy to the local people's congresses may be less than the number of people represented by each of the other deputies to such congresses.

In autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, and in townships, towns and ethnic townships where a certain ethnic minority inhabits in a concentrated community, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the election of deputies to local people's congresses from among other ethnic minorities and the Han people inhabiting in scattered groups in such areas. 

Article 21 In cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, townships, ethnic townships, and towns where various ethnic minorities inhabit in concentrated communities, ethnic minority electorates may vote separately or jointly in the election of deputies to the local people's congresses, depending on the relations between the ethnic groups and their residential situation in such areas.

In autonomous counties and in townships, towns and ethnic townships where a certain ethnic minority inhabits in a concentrated community, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the election of deputies to people's congresses from among other ethnic minorities and the Han people inhabiting in such areas. 

Article 22 Electoral documents, rolls of voters, voter registration cards, lists of candidates for deputies, deputies' election certificates and seals of election committees which are made or published by autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties shall be in the commonly used written languages of the ethnic minorities in the localities. 

Article 23 Other matters concerning elections among ethnic minorities shall be handled with reference to the provisions of the relevant articles of this Law. 

Chapter VI

Zoning of Electoral Districts

Article 24 The number of deputies to people's congresses of cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, counties, autonomous counties, townships, ethnic townships, and towns shall be allocated to electoral districts, and elections shall be held in electoral districts. Electoral districts may be zoned based on voters' residences or on production units, institutions and work units.

The size of electoral districts shall be decided on the basis of one to three deputies being elected from each electoral district. 

Article 25 Each deputy of an electoral district in the same administrative region shall represent an approximately equal number of people.