In order to elect a new term of people's congress deputies at a higher level, some local people's congresses have advanced the regular session originally held at the beginning of the year to December, and will no longer hold people's congresses in the next year. In this regard, some people believe that the time of the people's congress should be subordinated to the needs of the people's congress in performing its duties in accordance with the law, and there is nothing wrong with convening it in advance; Some people believe that according to the provisions of the local organic law, local people's congresses at all levels should be held at least once a year, and the practice of not convening people's congresses in the following year is illegal.
In the author's opinion, in view of the characteristics of China's people's congress system, and in accordance with the provisions of the law and the actual conditions of work, it is not inappropriate to advance the regular session of the people's congress held at the beginning of the year to the end of the next year, and to convene it together with the election of deputies to the people's congress at the next higher level.
First of all, it is in accordance with the law to hold it in advance. Article 14 of the Local Organization Law stipulates that "local people's congresses at all levels shall be held at least once a year. "In case of special circumstances, the standing committees of local people's congresses at or above the county level or the presidiums of the people's congresses of townships, ethnic townships, or towns may decide to appropriately advance or postpone the convening of the session. "Local people's congresses at all levels shall convene at least once a year, and there is no limit to the number of times they can be convened, and they may be convened at any time according to the needs of their work. In order to elect deputies to the people's congress at the next higher level, the people's congress at the county level should be convened appropriately in advance, and it is generally only encountered once in five years. ”
Second, the early convening should follow the practice of the National People's Congress. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Election Law, deputies to county and township people's congresses are directly elected by voters, and people's congress deputies at or above the prefecture level are elected by the people's congresses at the next lower level. At the time of the general election, the first session of each NPC session is mostly scheduled to be held in early March, the first session of each provincial-level people's congress is mostly scheduled to be held in mid-to-late January, and the first session of each city-level people's congress is mostly scheduled to be held in early January. In order not to affect the national, provincial and municipal people's congresses to complete the task of the general election as scheduled, the county-level people's congresses will advance the regular meeting to the end of December at the end of the year, and elect the new municipal people's congress deputies when listening to and reviewing the relevant work reports as usual.
In addition, the early convening saves administrative costs. There is a view that the county-level people's congress can be convened once in mid-to-late December to elect deputies to the city-level people's congress and then hold a regular session early next year. This method is certainly feasible, but it is the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and the time interval between the two people's congresses is too short. If the meeting is scheduled too closely, it will not only increase the administrative cost, but also the social cost. As for the fact that the data for December, especially the budget figures, cannot be calculated, it is actually not a big problem. This is because after the statistics from January to November are released, the overall situation of economic and social development for the whole year has been decided, and it will not affect the deliberation and discussion of the NPC. Moreover, in July and August every year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will arrange to hear and deliberate the final financial accounts report of the previous year, and to examine and approve the budget of the previous year.
Author: Cui Houyuan (Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Fengyang County, Anhui Province).