The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the deputy chairman, the secretary general, and the members of the Standing Committee come into positions by way of consensus appointment by the NPC.
During the session of the National People’s Congress, a presidium shall be selected to chair the session. Candidates for deputies to the National People’s Congresses shall be nominated on the basis of electoral districts. Each party or people’s organization may jointly or solely recommend deputy candidates. Ten or more voters or deputies may also jointly recommend deputy candidates. The deputy candidates who accept the recommendation shall provide the election committee or the presidium of the people’s congress with his or her true identification, resume and other basic information. If the information provided is not truthful, the election committee or the presidium of the people’s congress shall notify such circumstance to the voters or deputies. Deputies to the National People’s Congress shall be elected by the people’s congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and by the People’s Liberation Army. The number of deputies to the National People’s Congress shall not exceed 3,000.
The election of deputies to the NPC and the local people’s congresses shall be conducted by secret ballot with no exception. Facilities for confidential ballot writing shall be provided when election is under way. When balloting has been concluded, scrutineers and vote counters elected by the voters or deputies, and members of the presidium of the people’s congress shall check the number of people who voted against the number of votes cast and make a record of it; the record shall be signed by the scrutineers.
After deputies to the National People’s Congress have been elected, their credentials shall be examined by the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Based on the reports submitted by the Credentials Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall affirm the qualifications of deputies or invalidate the election of individual deputies, and shall publish the list of affirmed deputies prior to the first session of each National People’s Congress. Candidates for Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, Secretary-General and other members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall be nominated by the Presidium which, after consultation among the various delegations, shall decide upon a formal list of candidates, based on the opinion of the majority of deputies At sessions of the National People’s Congress, elections may be conducted and bills may be passed by secret ballot, by a show of hands or by any other form as decided by the Presidium.
The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress directs the work of the Standing Committee and convenes its meetings. The vice-chairmen and the secretary general assist the chairman in his work. When entrusted by the Chairman, a Vice-Chairman may exercise certain functions and powers of the Chairman. When the Chairman of the Standing Committee is incapacitated for work for reasons of health or when his office fall vacant, the Standing Committee shall choose one of the Vice-Chairmen to exercise the functions of the Chairman until the Chairman’s recovery or until a new Chairman is elected by the National People’s Congress.
The chairman, the vice-chairmen and the secretary general constitute the Council of Chairmen, handling the important daily work of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress which includes deciding on the time for each meeting of the Standing Committee and draft the agenda of the meeting. Deciding whether the bills, proposals and questions submitted to the Standing Committee should be referred to the relevant special committees or submitted to a general meeting of the Standing Committee for deliberation. Directing and coordinating the day-to-day work of the special committees.
In the event that the both the office of the President and the office of the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China are left vacant, the National People’s Congress shall elect a new president and a new vice-president. Prior to the election, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall provisionally assume the duties of president.