Reporters' Log

Lawmakers to sit closer to political nucleus

By Du Wenjuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-02-24 19:33

The State's legislature and advisory body will have their seating for deputies and members from all over the country periodically changed during the annual sessions, media reports say. 

The sixth plenary meeting of the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 16, 2008. Wen Jiabao was approved at the meeting to start another five-year term as Chinese premier. [Xinhua]

It's the first time all those who attend the national sessions can have a chance to sit in front seats, closer to top leaders, a change analysts say indicating much more than the distance from the speaker to the audience.

Deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) sessions and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) can take turns to sit closer to the platform inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Hong Kong-based daily newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported last Thursday.

All deputies and members will be divided into five groups and given different orders of seating during five main meetings, the newspaper said.

Their seats used to be allocated according to regions, vocations, ranks of position and strokes order of their surnames and they were not allowed to move all along during previous sessions.

The previous seating plan restrained listeners in space at the sessions, building unseen walls among different groups and regions.

The report also said the move indicates a step toward equal rights of political participation that previous sessions may have ignored.

The 12-day Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) set to begin on March 5 will have over 2,900 deputies from all walks of life, including migrant workers, farmers and those from minority groups.

The country's lawmakers, along with the political advisors of a number of around 2,200, will hear and review reports on government work and economy given by Premier Wen Jiabao, among others on the agenda.

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