For the people, by the people: Whole-process people's democracy

Editor's note: Wang Peng, a special commentator for CGTN, a research fellow at School of Marxism and Institute of State Governance, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

As the Communist Party of China marks its 105th anniversary, some Western commentators have once again returned to an old question: By what standard should the legitimacy of the CPC's governance be judged? Their answer is often pre-written. They take the competitive electoral model of the West as the only valid form of democracy, and then use this single yardstick to question China's political system, including the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC.

This way of thinking appears to be about "democracy," but in essence it narrows democracy into a periodic voting ritual. It mistakes one institutional form for the whole meaning of democratic politics. It assumes that only elections held in a Western style can produce legitimacy, while ignoring a more fundamental question: Does a political system truly represent the people, respond to the people, rely on the people, and improve the people's lives?

The core difference between the Chinese and Western political logics may be summarized in one sentence: Many Western parties pursue the maximization of votes, while the CPC has always upheld the maximization of public support and the people's fundamental interests. This is not a rhetorical distinction, but a difference in the organizing principle of politics.

In many Western electoral systems, political parties are structurally driven to focus on the next election cycle. Policy commitments are often designed around campaign mobilization, media competition, partisan confrontation and short-term voter calculation. The voter becomes highly visible during the campaign season, but may quickly become marginal after the ballots are counted. When democracy is reduced to the moment of voting, the people are easily transformed from masters of the state into instruments of electoral competition.

China's whole-process people's democracy gives a different answer. It emphasizes that the people should not participate in politics only at the moment of election, nor should democracy be confined to the casting of a ballot. Democracy must be present in decision-making, management, supervision and governance. It must be reflected not only in procedure, but also in results; not only in political expression, but also in the effective resolution of social problems.

The CPC's political legitimacy is rooted in its 105-year practice of the mass line. From revolution and national construction to reform and opening up, and from poverty alleviation to modernization, the Party has formed a basic political logic: everything is for the people, everything relies on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people. "Putting the people at the center" is therefore not an abstract slogan. It has been institutionalized through consultative democracy, people's congresses, grassroots governance, public participation in major decision-making, and channels through which deputies to people's congresses maintain contact with the public.

At the grassroots level, people participate in community affairs, neighborhood governance, village-level consultation, budget discussion, public service improvement and dispute mediation. Through such mechanisms, democracy is not distant from ordinary life. It is connected with housing, education, healthcare, employment, eldercare, transport, ecological protection and public security. This is precisely where political legitimacy becomes concrete: The people judge governance not by abstract labels, but by whether their concerns are heard, their difficulties addressed and their lives improved.

The people's congress system also provides an institutional channel for transforming public opinion into state will. Deputies to people's congresses are expected to maintain close ties with the people, listen to their suggestions and transmit social concerns into legislative and policy processes. In recent years, grassroots legislative contact points have further expanded public participation in lawmaking, allowing local communities, enterprises, experts and ordinary citizens to express views on draft laws and regulations. This shows that the people are not spectators of national governance; they are participants in the whole process.

Political consultation is another important dimension of China's democratic practice. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and related consultative mechanisms bring together political parties, people's organizations, ethnic groups, social sectors and representatives from different fields. Consultation before and during decision-making helps build consensus, reduce social friction and improve the quality of governance. Unlike the adversarial logic in which politics is often understood as a zero-sum struggle, China's consultative democracy seeks to integrate diverse interests within the framework of the common good.

Therefore, the Western claim that democracy has only one correct institutional form is both theoretically narrow and practically arrogant. Democracy is not a patent owned by a few countries. Nor is it a fixed template that can be mechanically copied from one civilization to another. Different histories, cultures, social structures and development stages inevitably produce different democratic forms. The real issue is not whether a country looks like the West, but whether its institutions can sustain public participation, social stability, national development and the improvement of people's well-being.

Western electoral democracy itself is facing serious difficulties. In some countries, partisan polarization has weakened the ability of governments to solve problems. Election campaigns increasingly become battles of identity, emotion and media manipulation. Money politics distorts representation. Political promises are made easily and forgotten quickly. Social divisions deepen as parties mobilize anger rather than responsibility. In such circumstances, it is increasingly questionable whether those who cannot solve their own democratic crisis are qualified to act as judges of democracy for the rest of the world.

This does not mean that China claims its system is perfect. No political system is free from problems, and governance modernization is always an ongoing process. China's attitude is not to export its model, nor to ask other countries to copy it. China's position is simpler and more reasonable: Democracy has no single answer, and no country has the right to monopolize its definition. A system should be judged by history, by practice and ultimately by the people themselves.

The history of the CPC demonstrates that legitimacy does not come from external certification. It comes from the people's trust, from the capacity to organize national development, from the ability to correct mistakes, and from the continuous improvement of people's lives. Over the past century, the CPC has led China from weakness to rejuvenation, from poverty to moderate prosperity, and from isolation to active participation in global governance. Such historical transformation cannot be explained by the simplistic language of "authoritarianism" often used in Western discourse. It must be understood through the relationship between the Party and the people.

The essence of democracy is not whether a country follows a Western script, but whether the people are truly the masters of their country. The essence of legitimacy is not whether it receives applause from foreign commentators, but whether it stands the test of the people and of history. Whole-process people's democracy is China's answer to this question. It tells the world that the people are not voting tools during election season, but participants in national governance throughout the entire process.

For the people and by the people: This is the political foundation on which the CPC has stood for 105 years. It is also the fundamental reason why China's democratic path has confidence, vitality and historical endurance. Democracy should bring stability, development, dignity and a better life to the people. Whichever system can do that is the system that can withstand the judgment of history.

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