If China were a Democracy?

[Deleted]

Just how big would their Elections be. I presume the nearest comparison is Indian elections. But with a larger population and vastness of the country. Just how would it work. I know in the UK they bemoan MP to voter ratio.

So how big a parliament would you expect them to have (number of MPs)?

Which voting system do you think the Chinese would prefer? FPTP / AV / PR obviously they would want it as fair as possible

Just wondered about the sheer logistics of it all.

[mboy]

Remember that in properly federal situations, where real power is held by the states, there isnt a need for giant representation at the top of the structure. If the Chinese federal government was like, e.g., Canada, they would just handle defence, treaties and national criminal law, etc. The states would deal with the day-to-day running of the country.

[neilm]

What does the Lok Sabha do in relation to the states?

I wonder if, in China, there would be a move to increase the number of states/provinces as there has been in India.

[Max]

Although I am a fan of FPTP, I do rather like the electoral system that the Chinese use... in the internal Party votes for the National Peoples Congress.

Essentially voters are presented with a list of candidates, and there are two columns in which they can vote - one "for" the candidates, and one "against". The voter can vote for as many candidates as they like, and the votes "against" are deducted from those "for" - the result is then determined on what is in effect goal difference!

I don't know of anywhere else that uses this system, though I would be delighted if someone could let me know; I certainly prefer it to AV!

By the way, I discovered this some years ago on the excellent Who Rules Where website, and I only wish that the author had had time to complete his survey of profiling all of the world's countries and their politics. I'm sure many people would enjoy reading his alphabetical analysis up to Finland if you've not seen it before whoruleswhere.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/china-peoples-republic/

[Deleted]

If China were a Democracy it wouldn't be China.

[mboy]

That doesnt make any sense. Even if you're saying that parts of it would want to secede if it was democratic, it still doesnt hold because many democracies have areas that want to secede but are not allowed.

[johnloony]

It is so much in the historical and national tradition of China that it has always had, or aspired to having, a strong charismatic leader - whether that's an Emperor, or Mao, or Xi, or whoever. A "democratic" China might be like modern Russia - it would need a strong authoritarian leader like Putin to keep a lid on secessionist and rebellious Muslim groups at the fringes, and to prevent corruption from getting too out of control. I guess it would have FPTP but without the pattern of political parties that we are (or even that India is) familiar with.