Ministry Proposes Revisions to the Laws on Villagers and Residents Committees

The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) has begun preparing proposals for revising laws on villagers and urban residents committees (VCs, RCs), the lowest level of governance in China. Provincial MOCA officials convened in Qingdao in late October to prepare proposals for draft amendments to the Organic Law on Villagers Committees, according to a November 3 article posted on the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Web site. A November 7 Legal Daily article notes that MOCA has submitted draft amendments to the Organic Law on Urban Residents Committees to the State Council.

Provincial MOCA officials propose to reform the Organic Law on Villagers Committees by focusing on five issues, according to the MOJ article:

• Allow the villagers representative assembly to choose the villagers election committee. The villagers assembly and villagers small electoral groups currently have this power.
• Regularize and clarify rules on campaigning. MOCA officials previously have noted that the absence of clear guidelines for how to conduct elections has resulted in corruption.
• Require townships to organize village recall elections, if a village fails to call the villagers assembly into session to handle a recall.
• Require outgoing villagers committees to give up official seals, stationery, office equipment, etc.
• Require that villagers committee members' term of office end automatically when they commit crimes, violate population and family planning policy, lose a Communist Party post, or are disciplined by the Party.

The proposed MOCA changes are limited, and do not address such issues as township government and local Party control over villager committees. With respect to those villagers committee members who are also Party members, the MOCA proposal would make Party control over their official village posts part of national legislation. Such a change would give Party officials an additional way to control the selection of village authorities. The Organic Law on Villagers Committees requires grassroots Party organizations to play a "core leadership role." For more information, see the Democratic Governance and Legislative Reform section of the Commission's 2005 Annual Report.