Legislature giving more seats to women, workers

A group of female delegates from the PLA take photos before a plenary session of the NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

Increasingly known as a rich man’s club, China’s ceremonial legislature now plans to give more seats to women, farmers, workers and professionals.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that changes to the makeup of the National People’s Congress would also reduce the proportion of delegates representing the ruling Communist Party and government departments, who now constitute about one-third of the roughly 3,000 members.

Xinhua gave no details on what the new quotas would be. When the current legislature was seated in 2013, 23 percent of its members were women. No figures were immediately available on workers and others.

The NPC and its advisory body meet in full session just once a year for about 10 days. The day-to-day work of vetting legislation is handled by the NPC’s much smaller standing meeting that meets twice a month.

Over recent years, the two bodies have become known as the wealthiest assemblies in the world, with a recent study from the Shanghai-based Hurun Report saying that more than 150 billionaires are included within their ranks.

They include Ma Huateng of microblogging firm Tencent Ltd., with a net worth of USD24 billion, and Robin Li, chairman of internet search giant Baidu, who has a fortune of $14 billion.

Xinhua quoted NPC Vice Chairman Wang Chen as telling delegates this week that the leadership of the ruling Communist Party was on guard against fraud and vote buying in the selection of deputies by members of their provincial assemblies.

Last year, 45 deputies from the northeastern province of Liaoning were ejected for vote buying. AP