Ongoing plenary sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) offer an annual refresher course in how democracy is practiced under the guidance of the Chinese Communist Party.
Known as the "Two Sessions," the meetings of representatives chosen through what Beijing calls democratic elections started in Beijing this week with nearly 3,000 NPC delegates gathering in the Great Hall of the People.
The NPC is the largest legislature in the world and nominally the highest authority in China. But its delegates are chosen not through direct elections but by provincial people's congresses or electoral colleges in 35 provinces or special jurisdictions. The only direct elections are at the county and township level.
By law, potential delegates to the people's congresses can be nominated and recommended by voters and groups, but they must be approved by the CCP.
Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the second session of the 14th NPC, said at a press conference on March 4 that the work of the NPC must follow "six important principles" that were proposed in 2021 by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CCP.
The first one is, "We must adhere to the leadership of the CCP" and "make the NPC a political organ that consciously adheres to the leadership of the CCP."
Despite the party’s tight control over the selection of delegates, rare independents with dissenting views have managed to slip through at local levels. Several of them spoke to VOA about their experiences.
Huang Songhai, a former independent delegate in 2007 to the People's Congress in from Poyang County, Jiangxi Province, told VOA that efforts to reform the process have been mostly frustrated.
"Our election is fake. Of course, we are making a little bit of progress. But basically, it is still fake," Huang said.
Yao Lifa, a former delegate to the People's Congress of from Qianjiang City, Hubei Province, ran as an independent candidate and was elected at the county level in 1998. He told VOA that in recent years, public enthusiasm for participation has declined.
"We have had elections so many times, but what is the outcome? What is the impact? What is the impact on society, our class, or me personally? I am not so satisfied, or even dissatisfied," he said.
Yao said the space for independent electioneering, campaigning and volunteering for candidates is shrinking.
Wang Xiuzhen, who ran as an independent delegate for local People's Congresses in 2011 and 2021, told VOA that authorities quash candidates who seek office without party nomination.
"After I ran, I was completely suppressed," she said. "They took me from our community, from my home, to the countryside, to the suburbs. It's like putting me under surveillance and house arrest. And then, I wasn't allowed to come back from there until after the election."
Wang said she has been placed under surveillance during the current Two Sessions "as if I'm a dangerous person, and always being watched. Now, they are watching me again. There are always people stationed in front of my house, and they follow me whenever I come out."
Xi, who in 2022 became China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, proposed in 2019 what he called a "whole-process people's democracy."
The state-run People's Daily said this process integrated "law-based democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight through a series of laws and institutional arrangements."
Ye Jinghuan, who ran as an independent delegate in Beijing in 2021, told VOA that China's whole-process people's democracy needs great improvements, including in judicial independence, and that NPC delegates should have their own powers.
Now, "they exercise very little real power. The authorities set the tone first, and then everyone raises their hands [to vote on it] and that's it," she said.
Despite the lack of democracy, Ye is not giving up. She said elections are all about participation, and everyone must be willing to contribute to whatever progress can be made.
