The Comprehensive and Extensive Nature of Whole-Process People’s Democracy

The comprehensive nature of whole-process people’s democracy is reflected in two key aspects. First, it encompasses a complete set of institutional procedures. China’s state system is a people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and farmers; its governance system is the system of people’s congresses; and its basic political systems are the CPC-led system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance. Based on these systems, we have consolidated and developed the broadest possible patriotic united front, put in place a comprehensive, extensive, and well-coordinated system of institutions that guarantee the people run the country, and developed diverse, open, and orderly channels for democracy. 

Second, whole-process people’s democracy ensures complete participation in practice. In accordance with the law, all people are able to participate in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight. Of these, democratic consultations represent an important form of whole-process people’s democracy. China’s complete democratic consultation system has enabled the coordinated development of consultations by political parties, people’s congresses, government departments, CPPCC committees, people’s organizations, communities, and social organizations. By steadily improving the various institutional platforms for consultation, we have promoted the extensive and institutionalized development of consultative democracy at various levels.

Whole-process people’s democracy blends electoral democracy and consultative democracy. It is implemented through a combination of elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight and covers the economic, political, cultural, social, environmental, and other fields. This has helped create a consistent, comprehensive, and coordinated system that enables regular and extensive participation, thereby ensuring that people’s wishes are represented and their voices are heard in all aspects of political and social life. Furthermore, whole-process people’s democracy has helped enrich and expand the connotations and practices of our drive to modernize national governance. It has not only reinforced people’s sense of participation in the process of modern national governance but also boosted the effectiveness of modern national governance.

The extensive nature of whole-process people’s democracy is reflected in the fact that all people enjoy extensive democratic rights. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the law, all Chinese people manage state, economic, cultural, and social affairs in various ways and forms. The Chinese Constitution stipulates that people have the right to vote and stand in elections and to be informed about, participate in, have a say in, and exercise oversight over national and social affairs. They also have the right to criticize and make suggestions regarding any state organ or public servant. Through whole-process people’s democracy, the Chinese people take part in the management of state affairs and social, economic, and cultural affairs in an extensive manner; they also fully exercise their democratic rights in everyday life. As a result, everyone plays multiple roles in advancing democracy and enjoys corresponding democratic rights in the process. 

In China, human rights are fully respected and protected. China has established the world’s largest social security system, with the number of people covered by basic medical insurance exceeding 1.3 billion and the number of those covered by basic old-age insurance surpassing 1 billion. People are also continuously gaining a stronger sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. Their rights to subsistence, development, and health are fully protected, and their economic, political, cultural, social, environmental, and other rights continue to expand. China has also secured victory in the fight against poverty, finished building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and made steady progress toward common prosperity. Thanks to these achievements, the scope and substance of the rights enjoyed by the Chinese people have continued to expand and deepen.

Whole-process people’s democracy also falls within the realm of promoting high-quality democratic development. From history, we can see that striking a balance between vitality and order has consistently proven to be a global challenge in advancing the modernization process. Chinese modernization can and should achieve a dynamic balance that fosters vitality without chaos and promotes both vibrancy and order. This is because developing whole-process people’s democracy enables us to correctly handle problems among the people under new circumstances and resolve issues at the community level as they emerge. It allows us to implement a social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and benefit sharing. This will help ensure positive interactions between the government’s governance efforts on the one hand and society’s self-regulation and residents’ self-governance on the other, thus fostering a community of social governance where everyone shoulders responsibilities and shares in the benefits. It also enables us to strengthen and innovate social governance at the community level, thereby invigorating every “cell” of our society. It places a greater emphasis on social fairness and justice and helps promote people’s well-rounded development and all-around social progress. Finally, it will help guide people in expressing their demands and protecting their rights and interests in a lawful and reasonable way, while also ensuring we crack down on various illegal and criminal activities that cause grave public concern in accordance with the law. Together, all these measures will ensure that our people can live and work in peace and contentment.

Editor:Yi Xiaowei