张德江委员长:年9亿选民将直接参加县乡人大换届选举

Over 900 million voters are expected to directly elect more than 2.5 million local legislators in grass-roots elections beginning 2016, said China's top legislator in an annual work report on last Wednesday.

上周三，全国人大常委会委员长在年度工作报告中表示，自2016年开始，中国超9亿选民将直接参与选举250余名当地基层委员。

"This will be a major political event in China, and an important step in the development of socialist democracy," Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), told the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported last Wednesday. China's grass-roots elections of local people's congresses at the county and township levels - which are held every five years - will be conducted starting 2016, Zhang said.

根据新华社上周三的报道，全国人民代表大会（全国人大）常务委员会委员长张德江在全国人民代表大会常务委员会上表示：“这将是全国政治生活的一个大事件，同时也是社会主义民主发展的重要一步。”他还表示，从2016年开始，中国县级和乡镇级基层选举将每五年举行一次。

"Adhering to the Party's leadership, we will fully promote democracy, follow procedures in strict accordance with the law, and strengthen guidance and monitoring of the election work in order to ensure that elections are held honestly and election results meet public expectations," Zhang said.

张德江委员长说道：“我们将坚持党的领导，充分发扬民主，严格依法办事，加强对选举工作的指导和监督，以确保选举公正、选举结果符合公众的期望。”

In China, representatives to local people's congresses at the county and township levels are elected directly and constitute over 90 percent of legislators at all levels nationwide, while representatives to a people's congress above the county level will be elected from the people's congress at a lower level.

在中国，县级和乡镇级全国人民代表大会代表占据全国各级代表的90%以上，但是县级以上的全国人大代表是由低层的全国人大选举出来的。

However, the government faces various challenges when it comes to elections.

然而，中国政府在选举方面还面临着各种各样的挑战。

In February, the Party's top disciplinary watchdog warned against "non-organizational activities in elections" including bribery in Party, governmental and legislative elections at all levels. Party members that do not follow the rules may be removed from public office or even expelled from the Party, it warned.

二月，党的最高纪律监督机构发出警告，反对包括所有级别的党政机关和立法机构选举中出现的贿赂情况在内的“非组织活动”。不遵守规章制度的党员，将会被开除公职甚至开除党籍。

The Party has been making efforts to "ensure the seriousness, justice and fairness of elections and to avoid electoral manipulation," Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University told the Global Times on last Wednesday.

北京大学廉政建设研究中心副主任庄德水上周三告诉环球时报，党一直在努力“确保严肃、公正和公平的选举，以避免操纵选举情况的发生。”

Election fraud is a major problem the Party is striving to curb as the elections have a direct impact on the outcome of the campaign to enhance discipline, Zhuang said.

此外庄德水还表示，选举对于加强党纪党风建设有直接的影响，所以选举舞弊一直是党和政府努力遏制的主要问题。