China is considering the introduction of direct elections at town and county level following the success of democratic elections to village committees.
An official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday that the possibility of amending the law to take the village elections to higher levels was being looked at.
Mr Zhang Mingliang said the village elections - introduced as a pilot programme in 1988 but formalised in law in 1998 - had been very successful and had taught China's rural population of 900 million about democracy. The current mix of direct and indirect elections reflected Chinese characteristics and was in keeping with China's national character, he said.
The village elections had "enhanced legal and democratic awareness" in the countryside. "We have moved from a system that was not very standard and not very democratic to one which is rather comprehensive, with a relatively high degree of democracy."
Direct elections with multiple candidates take place to 830,000 village committees across China. They have limited policy-making power and were introduced by the Communist Party to address rural grievances, such as corruption and illegal levies on farmers.