Ep 48: Voting with Chinese Characteristics Part 2, Even Albania has Elections

During the Chinese Civil war, the communist forces experimented with various election systems in the territory they controlled, however upon taking control of the country in 1949, all large scale elections ceased.

However, facing mounting pressure from the Soviet Union, the Communist party eventually restarted "elections" in 1954. In this episode we discuss the Maoist election process, how the "single candidates elections" worked, how the "voting" happened, and most importantly who was able to cast a ballot, and what happened to those who were branded "non voters" by the state.

The word play of "等额选举", which was the form of election in China since 1953 up until the release of the 1979 Election Law., meant "single candidate election". Even in the strictest definition of democracy, an election where there is no competition, is not a real election. The Chinese style elections are more of a ceremonial occasion where the hand picked candidates by the CCP get confirmed.

Recommended Book on this topic:

Voting as a Rite - A History of Elections in Modern China, by Joshua Hill
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674237216