Chapter 72 Support the "Public Opinion Veto System" for Cadre Appointment

Professor Zhen Xiaoying's research on party building starts from ideological and theoretical construction and then to system construction, from micro to macro.This makes her pay attention to both the theoretical thinking of system construction and the operability of system construction. In early July 2003, Professor Zhen Xiaoying, Professor He Weifang of Peking University Law School, Professor Gao Xinmin of the Central Party School, Associate Professor Cheng Jie of Tsinghua University Law School and other well-known experts came to Baicheng City, Jilin Province to investigate the "public opinion veto system" in the appointment of cadres .

Baicheng City is a prefecture-level city located in the northwest of Jilin Province. It borders the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province. It is considered a typical place of "three provinces".Since 1999, the Baicheng Municipal Party Committee took the lead in implementing the ballot system for the appointment and removal of county (department) level cadres. Since September 2001, the city has adjusted a total of 5,536 cadres, all of whom have implemented the ballot system. The so-called "public opinion veto system" means that in the process of promoting cadres, the candidates recommended by relevant units and personnel for promotion shall be selected by the municipal party committee in accordance with the principles of "recognized by the masses, focusing on performance" and "openness, equality, and justice". The organization department organizes the masses to conduct public opinion evaluations on them, and those whose recommendation votes from the masses are less than 50% are not included in the party committee's inspection list for promotion and appointment of cadres.This actually handed over the primary election right of cadres to the masses.On the basis of the party committee's assessment, the party committee's standing committee or the whole committee decides on the appointment of cadres through a differential vote.After the probationary period of a cadre expires, it is still necessary to pass the mass vote in the relevant area and the inspection of the party committee to decide whether the cadre will become a full-time member.Every year, the cadres' debriefing and assessment will also be conducted by the masses. If the rate of competence fails to meet certain requirements, those who are indeed incompetent after the assessment by the party committee will leave their leadership positions.This is the "public opinion veto system" throughout the process, also known as the "three-vote system".

In April 2002, in the process of promoting and appointing cadres above the deputy county (department) level, Baicheng handed over the right of primary election to the masses and implemented the "veto system" of mass secret ballots.As a result, a total of 464 cadres in the city who were to be promoted to leading positions at the county (department) level were voted by the masses, and the appointment of 44 of them was rejected because they received less than 50% of the votes from the masses. 35-year-old Zhong Weigang is now the deputy magistrate of the People's Government of Tongyu County, Baicheng City. At the age of 27, he worked as the deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Sikeshu Township in Da'an City for 3 years and decided to run for the mayor of Xidawa Township.But in the final vote of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, he "lost Maicheng" twice.He learned from the pain, summed up the lessons, found the gap in work and worked hard to catch up. Finally, he successfully competed for the post of mayor of Moon Pao Town at the end of the year, and later became the Secretary of the Party Committee of Liuhe Township by voting. In September 2002, during the reelection of the government teams of counties (cities, districts) in Baicheng City, according to the procedures for the promotion of cadres in Baicheng City, he received a relatively high number of votes in the public opinion evaluation and was listed as a candidate for the deputy county magistrate of Tongyu County Government. And successfully elected deputy county magistrate at the county people's congress.

The "three-vote system", especially the "public opinion veto" system, set off a political storm in Baicheng.Most cadres have now finally discovered that the municipal party committee is not putting on airs, but wants to really get rid of the shortcomings in the cadre system. The practice of Baicheng City has received the attention of relevant central departments and provincial party committees, and the media has introduced it many times, attracting field investigations by Beijing experts such as Zhen Xiaoying. Zhen Xiaoying was very excited after hearing the introduction from the leaders of the Municipal Party Committee in Baicheng, because this experience inspired Zhen Xiaoying to think about the anti-corruption system.

Zhen Xiaoying once said in the article "Correctly Judging the State of the Party's Style of Work and Its Confidence Issues" that the issue of corruption is a hot issue of concern to the masses inside and outside the party, and it is also a prominent problem to be solved in the construction of work style.Some comrades are dissatisfied with the Party's style of work, mainly because they are dissatisfied with serious corruption within the Party and in society; their lack of confidence in building the Party's style of work is also mainly due to their lack of confidence in whether they can effectively solve the problem of corruption.

She believes that the "popular veto system" and "voting system" in Baicheng are curbing corruption such as running, buying, and selling officials, and solving the problem of whether cadres can go up or down, and how a few people are under the influence of a few people. In terms of the selection of candidates, useful explorations have been carried out, and breakthroughs and progress have been made in improving the selection and appointment mechanism. She believes that this system of differential voting between the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and the National Committee is conducive to improving the internal deliberation and decision-making mechanism of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, to further exerting the role of the National Committee, and to preventing the top leaders from having too much power and making important personal decisions. The question is positive.Guangdong has carried out such a pilot project. The appointment of important cadres is nominated by the standing committee of the party committee and decided by secret ballot of the whole committee.In this way, the focus of decision-making on cadre personnel issues is gradually shifted to the National Committee.

As a result of going down to the grassroots, Zhen Xiaoying met many grassroots party and government cadres and party members. The most intense issue reported by everyone was the reform of the party's electoral system. They hoped that the election would truly reflect the will of the electors and not become a disguised appointment. . In Zhen Xiaoying's view, as a party with a self-renewal mechanism, it also needs a competition mechanism within the party, and contested elections are a kind of competition.Important cadres recommended by the Party to the National People's Congress should be recommended through certain democratic procedures within the Party.Now some party members and cadres are not elected to the National People's Congress. The very important reason is that party members among the deputies to the National People's Congress do not elect him.Cadres who have strong opinions from the masses and are not supported by the people cannot be reused within the party.In some places, cadres with strong opinions from the masses are recommended to the National People's Congress without going through the democratic procedures within the party.This phenomenon damages the image of the party and also affects the enthusiasm of party members.

In her opinion, with the implementation of the "vote system" of the National Committee, it is quite difficult to buy and sell officials.There are many people in the National Committee, and the transaction costs for those who buy officials will be high, and it is impossible for these people to listen to him.She emphasized that vigorously promoting inner-party democracy and people's democracy is an urgent need for the party to calmly deal with various risks, tests and challenges, and a realistic choice for the party to keep pace with the times, practice the important thinking of the "Three Represents" and maintain its advanced nature.

Professor Zhen Xiaoying's thinking on China's democratic politics is thought-provoking.People will never forget the "Zhen Xiaoying whirlwind" in China's political theory circle before the arrival of the summer of 2003, let alone Professor Zhen Xiaoying's contribution to the Party Building Research Institute for several years.Now, Professor Zhen Xiaoying's thinking has become increasingly mature and sharp, and every result of her thinking may attract the attention and attention of the central government and relevant people at home and abroad.