Changing attitudes

Thanks to the hard work of Ye and her counterparts, and the promotion of the government, an increasing number of people are turning their eyes to the election, including migrants working in big cities.

Huang Daoqing from Jiangsu Province has been working for a construction company in Beijing for more than four years. In mid-October, he and some of his colleagues went to an election station to register as voters in Beijing.

"You can see many posters around us urging us to vote," Huang told ChinAfrica. But what made him make the decision to vote in Beijing is that some candidates talked to him about their election plans. "I communicated with some of them and I think one of them can speak for us migrant workers in the future," said Huang.

According to the regulations, non-permanent residents living in Beijing for more than a year can vote here after they get a certificate of electorship from the place where their households are registered.

"This is my first time to vote in Beijing," smiled the 42-year-old, adding that he went home in August to get his certificate.

"You can see the great progress in China's democratic election as more and more people have changed from onlookers to participants of the people's congress election," said Ye.

Election Law

> According to the Election Law of China, the grassroot people's congresses are elected directly by the citizens. In the past decades, direct elections have continued to expand. According to the Election Law formulated in 1953, people's congresses of towns, districts of cities and cities not divided into districts should be elected directly. In 1979, the Election Law was modified and county-level people's congresses were also directly elected.