An Analysis On The Issue Of Campaign In Village-level Elections

Based on observations on election, the thesis proposes a perspective for village-level democratic elections. With introduction to the basic concept, nature and functions of regular elections under the current Chinese villager self-government system, the thesis analyzes the evolution of the villager self-government system and the village-level voting system as well as their influence on campaigns in current village-level democratic elections, together with the negative effect and the development trend of campaigns. It suggests that in village-level democratic elections, campaigning should neither be encouraged or be restrained. The article advocates ordered campaigns to further improve the election's choosing-the-best function. The development of campaigns should be controlled to make it an important competitive procedure of elections.Campaign is where the charm of election lies, for it mobilizes the broadest voting activities and meanwhile collects the general public opinion. It gives full play to electorate's votes and ensures them better voting rights. In the narrow sense, campaign is a competition for votes and a competition between candidates in legal form. In the broad sense, campaign is the most direct interaction between a candidate and the voters where the candidate, in response to the villager's general public appeal, conducts self-government according to the public will. With the development and prevalence of democratic culture and democratic spirit among rural grass roots, campaigning has become a ubiquity in elections.The great philosopher Kant said:"Being able to vote constitutes the political qualification of a country's members as a voter."In election of villager's committee, every voter has the political qualification to express his/her will and to vote for the candidate who best benefits him/her. The free voting ability is where a candidate's impetus lies, and is the inevitable demand of elective politics. The vote is the power of the people. The one who wins support from the people can win the election. The more fierce the campaign is, the more valuable the vote means to the candidates and the voters, and the higher the voter's status is in the election. The regularity of elections decides the long-term validity of votes, thus guarantees that villagers'will can be fully respected. In a campaign, in response to the voters'general appeal, the candidate shapes his/her administrative program and campaign program to satisfy the public appeal. Candidates are necessarily those who win support from more than half of the voters, so they represent the common interests of most voters and centralize the general electorate will. A campaign itself is a political participation. The value and meaning of rural grass roots democracy can be truly realized only by the villagers'full participation. Candidates must come into contact with the voters through effective approaches to win more votes. The campaign raises the possibility of voters'participation in the election. The right to vote is an invisible power, which, through campaigning, may help the voters exert important influence on the orientation of villagers'self-government under leadership of the villager's committee even after voting. Campaigning is a necessary procedure of procedural competitions.Nowadays, as the elective environment and the democracy and legal system improve, procedural competition, protected by the constitution, the law and regulations, has gradually become a reality in rural areas. Campaigning has come into being and exists against the background of the villager's committee election under the villager self-government system. It brings its choosing-the-best function into play with the development and improvement of the village-level election system.(1) Between 1980 and 1987 is the budding period. Although the election system and campaigning were both in their budding stage, the smell of competition could be sensed in a part of rural elections.(2) From 1988 to 1999 is the trial period. Campaigning became a trend in 1995, when candidates, especially those for chairmen and vice-chairmen of villagers committee, should announce their administration plans.(3) It has been the development and improvement period since 1998. Campaign activities in various forms exist in the election of every area. The evolution of the election system of the villager's committee has unswervingly pursued a sharp-cut theme: ensure and enhance the voter's rights competition, secret checking and open counting, it ensures that voters, as the main body of the right, have full right to make their choices, thus can independently express their own will without intervention in campaigns. Voter and candidates dare to and are willing to choose and be chosen in the competition.Procedural competition offers a platform for full campaigning, clearing up voters'worries about voting so that they can express their true will and making them more cherish their votes. Campaigning provides candidates with equal opportunity to display their ability and to compete for winning the election. It helps to attract excellent candidates to participate and stand out. It is also in favor of the voters to make right judgment about the candidates and to make rational decision on the basis of comparison, so that those who are more competent and who win more public support can be selected into the villager's committee. One of the most important ideas of a society under the rule of law is"Freedom is what's not forbidden by law". Since most candidates campaign in a positive and legal way, the voters become those best benefited by the activity. Villagers can elect leaders who satisfy them and can have their interests effectively protected as long as scientific, democratic and operable campaign rules are made.We should analyze the campaign's negative effect on village-level election in a critical way so that we can control its trend and standardize its mechanism and forms, making full use of its advantages while avoiding its disadvantages. Three among the negative effects call for our best vigilance: the first one is that under high campaign pressure, the candidates tend to be irrational and emotional, which may give rise to crisis in political participation; the second one is that over-campaigning may lead to degradation in grass roots democracy and become a power of decentralization, which should be avoided; the third one is that as the campaign activities become more and more emotional and the suspiciousness between family groups grows, there appears a symptom of populism which ,with public opinion as the shield, recklessly destroys the democratic system. Extending or abusing their power, those elected eventually damage the whole village's interests and get into the predicament of populism. To control the trend of campaign, a competitive procedure, on the principles of stability, efficiency and well-governing, firstly we should control the area and keep stability. The area of campaign should not be too large, or should be reduced to a natural village as a society of acquaintances. Secondly, we should stick to law and order and guarantee the procedural principle. The control on campaign patterns should conform to the principle of rationality, moderation and applicability, eliminating the illegibility of concepts. We should investigate and punish those who violate law and discipline in campaign activities, confirm and popularize campaign forms which are beneficial to the development of grass roots democracy. Guided by Marxism and using Marxist stand, viewpoint and method, we should grasp the direction of political and cultural development and create a favorable cultural atmosphere for the smooth implementation of campaigns.