China fights election scandal to safeguard political system

BEIJING -- A People's Daily commentary to be published on Sunday stresses China's resolution to fight election scandal and maintain people's confidence in the country's fundamental political system -- the system of people's congress.

The Hunan provincial legislature said on Saturday that 56 elected deputies to the provincial people's congress had offered bribes to 518 lawmakers of Hengyang municipal people's congress and another 68 staff, with the total amount of money involved exceeding 110 million yuan (about $18.14 million).

The number of people involved in the election case is huge, the amount of money large, the matter serious, the effect pernicious, and this is a severe case of election violation via bribery, the commentary said.

Only by overhauling and seriously handling the case in accordance with laws and disciplines will win the heart of the people and maintain the people's confidence in the country's fundamental political system, added the commentary of the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In the Hengyang case, some officials ignored Party disciplines and national laws, drew votes via bribery and received bribes, leading to the spread of violation of Party disciplines and laws, according to the commentary.

The provincial legislature has disqualified the 56 during a plenary meeting, while the county-level legislative body of Hengyang City has accepted the resignations of the 512 who took bribes.

The commentary said that to resolutely punish and handle corruption is a necessity for the CPC to rule by law, and the Hengyang case must arouse high alert and be dealt with severely.

A recent anti-corruption guideline issued by the CPC Central Committee has reiterated to tighten efforts to probe cases of law violation, and no matter in which field, anyone who violates the CPC disciplines and national laws should be investigated and harshly punished.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in November said that China will improve its system of corruption punishment and prevention, build a clean government, and cultivate cadres with clean hands.

The commentary said that each CPC cadre should take the lead to abide by Party rules and national laws so as to maintain state authority and dignity.

The commentary also called on governments and officials at all levels to observe strict disciplines, strengthen system construction, strictly act by laws, maintain authority and dignity of the people's congress system, improve Party building and fight corruption.