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The International Republican Institute (IRI) began working in China in 1993, and for more than a decade has supported the efforts of Chinese reformers in the government, academic and nonprofit sectors to promote electoral reform, democratic governance, the rule of law and the development of an open and vibrant civil society.
Current electoral programs include election observation missions, training for election administrators, governance projects for grassroots leaders, assistance to the Ministry of Civil Affairs on developing campaigning regulations and support and training for independent election monitors. IRI works with researchers at the Central Party School on projects which enhance understanding of multiparty democracy, and expand discussion of internal party democracy and the changing relationship between the state and civil society. Through partnerships with Chinese nongovernmental and public policy organizations, IRI is helping to enhance the capacity of Chinese citizens and independent institutions to participate actively and constructively in civic and political life.
I. Building Local Democracy
Election Observation Missions
There are nearly 700,000 villages in China, each governed by a village committee, the executive branch of rural grassroots governance. Chinese law stipulates that village committees are to be popularly elected by village residents every three years. In 1994, IRI became the first western organization to observe Chinese village elections. Since then, IRI has observed close to 60 elections in provinces throughout the country. Although there is wide variation in the quality of grassroots elections in China, in provinces where IRI has been able to observe multiple rounds of elections, many of IRI's recommendations have been implemented and significant improvements have been made.
Election Administration
IRI's village election programs teach the importance of transparent elections, and train election administrators on how to organize and carry out free and fair elections. IRI's electoral workshops emphasize the importance of multi-candidate elections, candidate selection procedures, voter registration, proper polling place procedures, the use of secret ballots and transparent vote tabulation. Mock elections are held in which officials participate as poll workers, candidates and voters.
In addition to village elections, IRI began to work on urban community elections in 2002, becoming the first foreign organization to witness this new and promising aspect of Chinese political reform. In 2003, IRI began working on urban elections in Xiamen, Fujian Province. IRI's urban electoral programs there have included training election administrators, helping to draft election regulations, conducting pre-election assessments and election observation missions.
Election Campaigning
In 2004 IRI was able to take advantage of a unique opportunity to participate in the drafting of China's first comprehensive regulations on election campaigning with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA). Genuinely competitive elections that elicit enthusiastic participation by voters require that candidates campaign actively and draw distinctions between their platforms and those of their competitors. As villagers become accustomed to the act of voting and choosing their own leaders, they are also beginning to demand more information about the candidates and what they stand for.
In China, wide regional variations in campaigning practices and the lack of regulatory guidance on the topic of campaigning suggested that there was an urgent need for a more comprehensive approach to the issue. With this in mind, IRI put together a working group of Chinese election experts to conduct comparative research on campaign laws in a number of different countries and assisted in the production of a book of recommendation that has now been submitted to MoCA and to the National People's Congress for consideration. While at present it is difficult for candidates to campaign for office, then campaigns guideline project has helped to introduce some important election principles and encouraged expansion of meet the voter opportunities.
Election Monitoring
IRI trained the first-ever group of independent Chinese election monitors in international standards of evaluating elections, and has sent them to monitor and report on grassroots elections all over China, including the Ningxia Hui Muslim Autonomous Region, Anhui, Hubei, Yunnan, Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. Election monitors help ensure that elections are open and transparent by identifying and deterring fraud. They increase public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, and make recommendations as to how future elections might be improved. The reports written by the monitors provide a clear picture of the status of elections in various parts of China, especially in areas where elections have been fraught with problems and contention. Further monitoring missions are planned for elections in 2006 and beyond.
IRI also periodically provides opportunities for Chinese election administrators and researchers to witness electoral democracy first-hand in other countries, particularly countries whose situations are similar in some key ways to China's. In June 2004, IRI took a Chinese delegation to observe parliamentary elections in Mongolia, where they observed campaigning and pre-election activities, voting, and ballot tabulation in a neighboring country that is largely rural and that has recently undergone a transition to multiparty democracy.
Governance Training for Newly Elected Leaders
IRI believes that training in the technical aspects of elections is only one piece of the equation, and that elections will be meaningful and sustainable only if those elected are able to govern effectively and democratically. Governance training is the natural progression of IRI's ongoing electoral reform program, and provides a unique opportunity to broaden and deepen political reform in the Chinese countryside. Since 1996, IRI has been conducting training in the fundamentals of transparent and accountable governance for newly elected village committee leaders.
In 2003, IRI conducted its first governance training seminar for urban community leaders in Xiamen. The seminar trained grassroots leaders on ways to more effectively serve and govern their communities in light of changes taking place in the city, such as redistricting and the urbanization of villages. Most recently, IRI sponsored two governance training seminars in Hunan province in December 2005. Additional trainings that focus specifically on the most pressing governance issues faced by grassroots leaders, including budgeting, financial management, conflict resolution and economic development, are planned for late 2006.
II. Party Politics
In 2002, IRI started a program to assess party politics in China. In September 2002, IRI organized a research trip for a group of Chinese officials and researchers, who traveled to the United States to learn about multi-party political systems and the relevance of party politics to China's own political development. IRI sponsored a follow-up conference in October in Beijing entitled, Party Politics: Models, Theories and Practices, which included participants from throughout China, Australia, Europe and the United States.
In 2003, IRI and the Central Party School co-sponsored a conference on Internal Party Democracy and Grassroots Political Participation on the island of Zhoushan, off the coast of Zhejiang Province. The conference enabled party officials to candidly discuss their concerns about the fragmenting legitimacy faced by the party today. Participants debated the viability of implementing substantive political reform within the contexts of the current system and assessed the benefits and limitations of current reform efforts. In April 2006, IRI sponsored another conference with the Central Party School on the role of political parties in building service-oriented local governments.
III. Developing Civil Society
The growth and diversification of civil society has been a major development in China in the past few years. Chinese nongovernmental organizations (NGO) are increasingly active in a variety of issue areas ranging from poverty relief to environmental activism and rights protection. In 2002, IRI established a partnership with a women's NGO to promote women's civic and political participation in rural areas. IRI training seminars have focused on such issues as improving communication skills, gaining the trust of voters, building networks of supporters and election campaigning, as well as overcoming barriers to participation in public life. A number of the women trained by IRI have gone on to successfully win positions on village committees and local people's congresses or have become community leaders through involvement in business.
IRI has also helped to create a new group called the Grassroots Women Leaders Network, comprised of local women's leaders from all over China. The network promotes communication and exchanges of information and expertise and publicizes the importance of women's political participation. IRI has conducted training for members of the network on crisis management and conflict resolution, and using computers and the Internet. A seminar for grassroots women leaders was held in June 2006.
IRI also works with grassroots NGOs in Western China on capacity building, community development and legal rights education initiatives.
IV. Public Policy Reform
To strengthen the rule of law, IRI works with independent Chinese public policy institutes to build their capacity to participate in policy formulation and implementation. This program aims to open the policy design and implementation process to a wider array of local officials and to strengthen legislative and legal organs at the provincial level. Through this program, IRI has sponsored a conference on corporate governance and two conferences on the applicability of employee stock ownership plans to China's state-owned enterprises.
In 2002, IRI supported a symposium in on rural property rights and grassroots democratization. Many of the policy recommendations that arose from this project were eventually incorporated into China's new land use law.
In 2004, IRI began a new, multi-year project to build up autonomous farmers' organizations to lobby the government and defend their collective interests.
Autonomous organizations are desperately needed to enable China's rural citizens to address both their economic difficulties, and ongoing institutionalized discrimination. IRI's most recent policy reform project concerns alternative models to reform township administration and governance. A major international symposium on this topic was held in March 2006, and policy recommendations will be submitted to the National People's Congress.
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