List of political parties in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the People's Republic of China

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The People's Republic of China (PRC) is formally a multi-party state under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in a United Front similar to the popular fronts of former Communist-era Eastern European countries such as the National Front of Democratic Germany.

Under the one country, two systems scheme, the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, which were previously colonies of European powers, operate under a different political system to the rest of the PRC. Currently, both Hong Kong and Macau possess multi-party systems.

Relationships with the Communist Party

The dominance over the political system is such that China is effectively a single-party state. This means that only one political party, the CPC, holds effective power at the national level. Eight minor parties also participate in the political system under the leadership of the major party. The PRC political system allows for the participation of some non-party members and minor parties in the National People's Congress (NPC), but they are vetted by the CPC.

Although opposition parties are not formally banned in mainland China (the PRC), the CPC maintains control over the political system in several ways.

Firstly, the PRC political system is composed of a series of indirect elections in which one people's congress appoints the members of the next higher congress, and in which only the lowest people's congresses are subject to direct popular vote. This means that although independent members can theoretically, and occasionally in practice, get elected to the lowest level of congress, it is impossible for them to organize to the point where they can elect members to the next higher people's congress without the approval of the CPC or to exercise oversight over executive positions at the lowest level in the hierarchy. This lack of effective power also discourages outsiders from contesting the people's congress elections even at the lowest level.

Second, although PRC law has no formal provision for banning a non-religious organization, it also has no provision which would give non-CPC political parties any corporate status. This means that a hypothetical opposition party would have no legal means to collect funds or own property in the name of the party. More importantly, PRC law also has a wide range of offenses which can and have been used against the leaders of efforts to form an opposition party such as the China Democracy Party and against members of organizations that the CPC sees as threatening its power. These include the crimes of subversion, sedition, and releasing state secrets. Moreover, the control that the Party has over the legislative and judicial processes means that the Party can author legislation that targets a particular group.

The parties

• Communist Party of China (中国共产党) More than 70 million members,

• The eight registered minor parties under CPC direction:
  • Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang (中国国民党革命委员会 or 民革). Formed by leftist members of the Kuomintang (KMT) who did not escape to Taiwan. 82,000 members. It is considered "second" in status to the Communist Party of China. Thus it has 30% of the seats in the People's Political Consultative Conference. Chinese nationalism Three Principles of the People
  • China Democratic League (中国民主同盟 or 民盟). Originally a league of pro-democracy parties. Formed by 144,000 members, mainly middle-level and senior intellectuals. Patriotism Socialism
  • China Democratic National Construction Association (中国民主建国会 or 民建). Entrepreneurs from the manufacturing, financial or commercial industries, in both private and state sectors. Market socialism
  • China Association for Promoting Democracy (中国民主促进会 or 民进). Intellectuals, mostly in the education, technology and publishing sectors. Some 117,500 members. Social democracy
  • Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party (中国农工民主党 or 农工党). Most of its 65,000 members work in the fields of public health, culture and education, science and technology. Socialism
  • Zhigongdang of China aka China Party for Public Interest (中国致公党). Returned overseas Chinese, relatives of overseas Chinese, and noted figures and scholars who have overseas ties. Chinese federalism Reunification of China
  • Jiusan Society aka September 3 Society (九三学社). Most of its 68,000 members are high- and medium level intellectuals in the fields of science, technology, education, culture and medicine. Socialism
  • Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (台湾民主自治同盟 or 台盟). 1,600 people, most of whom are prominent people that are from Taiwan or are of Taiwanese heritage, but now reside on the Mainland. Taiwanization One country, two systems

Actively suppressed political parties

The following parties are ones which have been and are currently still being actively suppressed in the People's Republic of China. Due to the censorship and suppression, they most likely have their headquarters outside of the Chinese mainland:

• The China Democracy Party (中国民主党) was founded by participants of the 1978 Chinese Democracy Wall Movement and the 1989 Democracy Movement. It was made illegal in 1998 by the CCP on mainland soil. Democracy Liberalism Anti-communism
• The China New Democracy Party (中国新民党) was founded by Guo Quan in Nanjing at the end of 2007.
• Union of Chinese Nationalists (中国泛蓝联盟) aspires to the ideals of the Pan-Blue coalition on Taiwan. As such, its values include establishing a liberal democracy in accordance with the Three Principles of the People. The group originated from an internet forum discussion in August 2004 and was declared to be an illegal organization in September 2006.

See also

• Chinese political parties
• List of political parties
• List of political parties in the Republic of China before and after 1949
• List of political parties in Hong Kong
• List of political parties in Macau

External links

• List of Democratic Parties - People's Daily
• Profile of Democratic Parties - Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference