Next year's National People's Congress (NPC) will have roughly one deputy representing every 670,000 citizens, marking the first time that urban and rural residents will have equal representation.
NPC spokesman Li Zhaoxing confirmed yesterday that new election guidelines and a re-allotment of deputy seats for the next NPC will be among the agenda items for the annual meeting, which begins today and will be the fifth and last session for the current NPC.
Prior to 1995, there was a NPC deputy for every 800,000 rural residents and one for every 100,000 urban residents, to protect workers' rights in the cities.
Following the gradual growth of the urban population, this ratio was reduced to four-to-one in 1995, and finally removed in a revision of the Electoral Law in March 2010.
While saying that elections for the next NPC will enhance the voting rights of Chinese citizens, Li also said it would be difficult for direct elections to be further expanded beyond the current scope, which is limited to the election of deputies of people's congresses at grass-roots levels of counties and villages.
'All forms of democracy must be compatible with the conditions of a society's economy, politics and culture,' Li said.