The Election Rules of the Chinese Soviet Republic

(November 1931)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 For the purpose of unifying election procedures within the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic, these Election Rules are hereby promulgated in accordance with the provisions on elections set forth in Articles 68 through 79 of the Constitution.

Article 2 These Election Rules shall be effective throughout the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic.

Article 3 The Central Executive Committee shall have the power to suspend and amend these Rules.

Article 4 Should any questions arise concerning these Rules or any disputes occur in their implementation, the power of interpretation shall rest with the Central Executive Committee.

Chapter II The Right to Vote and the Right to Stand for Election

Article 5 According to the provisions of Article 68 of the Constitution: "All persons residing within the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic who have reached the age of sixteen, regardless of gender, religion, or ethnicity, shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election to the Soviets, provided they belong to one of the following categories of people:

1. All who do not exploit the labor of others, such as hired laborers, peasants, independent laborers, the urban poor, and their family members;

2. Persons serving in the land, sea, and air forces of the Chinese Soviet Republic;

3. Persons from the above two categories who are currently unable to work or are unemployed."

Article 6 According to the provisions of Article 69 of the Constitution: "Persons who commit any one of the following shall have no right to vote and no right to stand for election:

1. Those who exploit the labor of others (including rich peasants);

2. Those who live on the profits of land or capital without working themselves;

3. Merchants, capitalists, and their agents, middlemen, and compradors;

4. Missionaries of various religions, pastors, monks, Taoist priests, geomancers, yin-yang practitioners, and all those who make preaching their profession;

5. Police, detectives, gendarmes, bureaucrats, warlords of the Kuomintang and other reactionary governments, and reactionaries who participate in actions against the interests of workers and peasants;

6. Persons suffering from mental illness;

7. Persons sentenced as guilty by a court of law and during the period of their offense;

8. Family members of those listed in Items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 above."

Article 70 of the Constitution further stipulates: "Persons belonging to one of the three categories enumerated in Article 68 of this Constitution, yet falling under any one of the clauses of Article 69, shall likewise have no right to vote and no right to stand for election."

Chapter III Organs for Conducting Elections

Article 7 According to the provisions of Article 71 of the Constitution, the organs for conducting elections are enumerated as follows:

1. In urban areas, the city soviet shall organize an election committee to carry out the process. The number of committee members shall not exceed nine.

2. In rural areas, the district executive committee shall organize an election committee for the entire district to carry out the process. The number of committee members shall not exceed eleven.

Article 8 In large cities and large districts, sub-committees of the election committee may be established under the city election committee and the district election committee to carry out work under the guidance of the general election committee.

Article 9 The members of the election committee must be submitted by the city soviet and the district executive committee to the county executive committee for examination, and then reported by the county executive committee to the provincial executive committee or its presidium for approval and appointment; however, such members shall be qualified residents of that locality. In special circumstances, the superior government may send persons who are not residents of that locality.

Article 10 The chairpersons of city soviets and township soviets shall not serve as members or chairpersons of the election committee.

Chapter IV Election Procedures

Article 11 Voter registration must be carried out two weeks before the commencement of elections.

Article 12 Voter registrars may be designated by the election committee as specific personnel to carry out the task. Among organized groups of people, registration may proceed through those organizations. Among unorganized groups of people, specialized personnel may be hired to carry it out.

Article 13 During registration, the voter registration forms prescribed by the Central Executive Committee must be completed.

Article 14 After registration is completed, the voter registration forms must be collected and sent to the election committee.

Article 15 After registration concludes, the election committee must announce the total number of voters within that area and the number of deputies to be elected.

Article 16 Before the election begins, the election committee, through the city soviet or the executive committee, must publish the list of persons deprived of the right to vote.

Article 17 The election committee must announce in advance the locations and dates for holding election meetings to each locality, organization, and enterprise.

Article 18 In cities, elections shall be conducted with the production unit as the basis. For those who cannot conduct elections based on the production unit, election meetings shall be held at locations designated by area. Workers and laborers’ family members shall participate in elections at the same place as the individuals themselves. In rural areas, elections shall be conducted with the village as the unit, with election meetings held accordingly. Small villages may combine several villages together to hold an election meeting.

Article 19 After registration, the election committee must give each voter entitled to vote a notice of election, informing him or her of when and where the election meeting will be held. Only after obtaining this notice may the voter enter the election venue.

Article 20 The election committee shall have the right to borrow any public place or private house as the venue for an election meeting.

Article 21 The venue of the election meeting shall be arranged in advance by the election committee. At the entrance to the election venue, specific personnel must be designated for registration; only those holding a notice of election shall be permitted to enter.

Article 22 The presidium of the election meeting shall be composed of three persons, two of whom shall be elected by the election meeting, and the remaining one shall be the chairperson or a fully authorized representative of the election committee; one secretary shall also be elected separately to record the proceedings of the election.

Article 23 The chairperson of the election meeting presidium must be assumed by the chairperson or a fully authorized representative of the election committee.

Article 24 After the election meeting is declared open, the chairperson must announce the number of people present and whether a quorum is met.

Article 25 The agenda of the election meeting is prescribed as follows:

(1) The chairperson or fully authorized representative of the election committee, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 68, 69, and 70 of the Constitution, shall announce who has the right to vote and stand for election, and who is deprived of the right to vote and stand for election.

(2) Electing full deputies.

(3) Electing alternate deputies.

(4) Adopting proposals that voters entrust deputies to bring forward.

Article 26 The records of the election meeting, the attendance registration forms, and all documents related to the election shall be collected and sent to the election committee for review after the election results are determined.

Article 27 The records of the election meeting must be signed by all members of the presidium and the secretary.

Article 28 The meeting may be convened when more than half of the voters eligible to participate in the election for that voter assembly are present.

Article 29 If the number of voters present fails to meet the quorum, the meeting must be declared postponed, and the election committee shall schedule a new date to reconvene. In the event of reconvening the election meeting, the notice of election must be reissued.

Article 30 If the quorum is again not met at the second election meeting and the meeting is postponed, then for the third convened election meeting, regardless of whether the quorum is met, the election may commence and proceed to elect the required number of deputies.

Article 31 Elections shall not employ written ballots, but shall decide by a show of hands, with those receiving a majority of raised hands being elected.

Article 32 The names of candidates may be proposed individually or by an entire list, according to the preference of the majority of voters at the meeting.

Article 33 Full deputies and alternate deputies shall not be proposed for a vote simultaneously; full deputies must be elected first, followed by alternate deputies.

Chapter V Procedures for Electing Deputies to Workers’, Peasants’, and Soldiers’ Soviets at All Levels and Proportional Ratios of Deputies to Residents

Article 34 Deputies to the township soviet of workers, peasants, and soldiers shall be elected by the voter assembly of the entire township, with one deputy elected to the township soviet of workers, peasants, and soldiers for every fifty residents.

Article 35 The city soviet of workers, peasants, and soldiers shall be elected by the voter assembly of the entire city, with one deputy elected to the city soviet for every two hundred residents.

(Note) In addition to full deputies, township and city soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers may elect alternate deputies, whose number shall be in a ratio of one-fifth the number of full deputies.

Article 36 Deputies elected by each township soviet of workers, peasants, and soldiers shall constitute the district congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers. The number of deputies shall be in a ratio of one deputy elected for every four hundred residents.

Article 37 Deputies elected by each district congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers and each city soviet of workers, peasants, and soldiers shall constitute the county congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers. The number of deputies shall be in a ratio of one deputy elected for every five hundred urban residents and one deputy elected for every one thousand five hundred rural residents.

Article 38 Deputies elected by each county congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers and the soviets of cities directly under the province shall constitute the provincial congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers. The number of deputies shall be in a ratio of one deputy elected for every five thousand urban residents and one deputy elected for every twenty-five thousand rural residents.

Article 39 Deputies elected by each provincial congress of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers and the soviets of cities directly under the central government shall constitute the National Congress of Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers of the Chinese Soviet Republic. The number of deputies shall be in a ratio of one deputy elected for every fifty thousand rural residents and one deputy elected for every ten thousand urban residents.

Article 40 The qualifications of deputies to the district, county, and provincial congresses of soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers must be examined by an examination committee organized by the respective soviet congress at that level.

Article 41 A region with fewer than the legally prescribed number of voters may also elect one deputy, but such deputy shall have the right to speak and no right to vote.

Article 42 Workers’ and peasants’ armed forces and Red Army units under the jurisdiction of a district soviet shall participate in the district soviet elections; those under the jurisdiction of a county soviet shall participate in the county soviet elections; those under the jurisdiction of a provincial soviet, and those within the provincial territory not under the jurisdiction of the provincial soviet, shall participate in the provincial soviet elections. Regulations on elections in the Red Army shall be separately promulgated by the Central Executive Committee.

Chapter VI Recognition and Cancellation of Basic (Urban and Rural) Elections and Recall of Deputies

Article 43 Elections conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Constitution and these Rules shall be considered legal and must be duly recognized.

Article 44 If an election is not conducted according to the procedures prescribed by the Constitution and these Rules, voters may file a complaint with the city soviet or the district executive committee; upon receiving such a complaint, the soviet government concerned shall immediately organize a committee to examine it.

Article 45 After an election is concluded, the election committee must collect and submit all documents pertaining to the election to the city soviet or district executive committee for inspection.

Article 46 Upon receiving the documents related to an election, the city soviet or district executive committee must organize a special committee to examine them.

Article 47 If any part of an election is found not to comply with the election procedures, the power to cancel that part of the election shall belong to the city soviet and the district executive committee.

Article 48 If the entire election is found to have violated the election procedures, the power to cancel the election shall belong to the superior soviet government.

Article 49 Any disputes arising over the validity of an election shall be resolved by the city soviet and the district executive committee.

Article 50 The Central Executive Committee shall be the final appellate body for electoral matters.

Article 51 If a deputy to a city or township soviet fails to perform his or her duties, acts contrary to the trust of the people, or commits unlawful acts, the city or township soviet may expel such deputy. Voters also have the right to recall that deputy and elect a replacement. However, in such cases, the matter must be reported to the superior soviet government for examination and approval.

Chapter VII Election Expenses

Article 52 Expenses for conducting elections shall be borne by the national treasury.

Article 53 Each election committee must draw up a budget for conducting the election, which shall be submitted by the city soviet or district executive committee to the county executive committee for approval, and shall be paid out of the election funds allocated by the Central Executive Committee.

Article 54 After an election concludes, the election committee must present a financial report to the city soviet or district executive committee and draw up a final account, which shall be submitted by the city soviet or district executive committee to the county executive committee for approval.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 55 These Election Rules shall take effect on the date of their promulgation.

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic

Xiang Ying, Vice Chairman
Zhang Guotao, Vice Chairman