On November 15, China held elections for local legislative bodies. The Chinese Constitution says anyone who has not been convicted of a crime, and who is an adult citizen, may run. But in practice, only candidates approved by the Communist Party may run. The BBC tried to interview an independent candidate, but when the BBC team went to the residence of the independent, 25 plain clothes police prevented the candidate from leaving her house to speak to the BBC reporters. When she tried to speak from the interior, out a window, the police covered up the window. They also put their bodies and hands in from of the camera to prevent filming. See this story, which has a riveting film of the incident.
UPDATE: this article says many write-in votes were cast in the November 15 elections.
Any secret ballots and gerrymanders in China ??? Duh.
i.e. ONE more EVIL rotted killer gang of oligarchs with monarch figureheads ???
If they fear independent candidates even in local elections, they are truly weak.
There’s no need for this. They need to learn from the US. Make all offices elected by single-member districts, and require all candidates, except those endorsed by the party, to collect an ungodly number of nomination signatures to run. A few independents may get through the barriers, but not enough to matter.