How hard is it for an ordinary Chinese citizen to get elected into the legislature?
Grass-roots democracy now more difficult, with independent candidates detained, microblogs deleted and supporters put under pressure
Like many others who sought to run as independents in China’s county and district legislature elections this year, factory worker Liu Mingxue saw his candidacy rejected in the northwestern province of Gansu, even though he followed every procedure required by law.
Liu was also taken away by police on June 20 – county election day – for questioning about his assistant, and not released until 12 hours later.
Oppression of potential candidates is to be expected ... but there’s still a lot that can be done within the current system
Liu, 55, hoped to be elected so he could help more than 1,000 fellow workers at a local chemical factory lobby for better welfare, which the company’s bosses, two of whom won seats in the election, had refused.
His chief campaign assistant, Qu Mingxue, was arrested for sabotaging the election after he campaigned for Liu on social media.
“We were never optimistic about getting elected,” Liu said. “Usually it’s the designated candidates that win ... but I was surprised they detained [Qu] on such a charge.”