View source for Elections in Menghe

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'''Elections in Menghe''' are held every five years for delegates to the [[National Assembly (Menghe)|National Assembly]] and provincial assemblies, every two years for Village-level mayors and County-level councilmembers, and every year for delegates to the Village and County level [[National Social Consultative Conference (Menghe)|Social Consultative Conferences]]. Executive officials at all other levels, from the Chairman of the [[Supreme Council of Menghe|Supreme Council]] to county heads, are appointed by a separate [[Cadre (Menghe)|cadre management system]] and do not face democratic elections.

At each level, candidates for the election can only run if they receive the approval of the district's Elections Board, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The [[Menghean Socialist Party]] exercises tight control over these elections boards, ensuring that only candidates who are friendly to the regime may run. As such, while elections may involve a more or less fair race between two Socialist Party candidates, or between a Socialist Party candidate and another candidate from the United Front for National Restoration, candidates expressing serious opposition to the system are denied access.

The situation lightened somewhat in the 2019 election, where independent candidates were allowed to run for National Assembly seats for the first time since 1927. Stringent restrictions on media use and campaigning ensured that the UFNR retained a large majority in the legislature, but international observers rated the election as a significant step toward free democratic competition.

==Eligibility==
All [[Menghean nationality law|Menghean citizens]] over the [[Age_reckoning_in_Menghe#Standard age|standard age]] of 19 are automatically registered to vote. Each district puts together an {{wp|electoral roll}} using [[Resident Identity Card (Menghe)|citizen registration data]], and citizens confirm their identity at the polling station by showing their [[Resident Identity Card (Menghe)|Resident ID card]]. Voting is not compulsory, though the MSP holds large rallies every year to encourage party supporters to vote.

Citizens may only vote at the polling station whose district contains the permanent address listed on their Resident ID card. Until recently, citizens could only cast ballots if the permanent address on their Resident ID card was situated in the county-level entity where their [[Household_Registration_System_(Menghe)|household was registered]]; thus, migrants from rural areas to cities were only eligible to vote in their home counties, and only if they remained registered with a relative's address. This restriction was relaxed in 2018, allowing migrant workers to cast ballots in their destination city if they had updated their permanent address at least one year prior.

Citizens living in a different part of Menghe from their registered home, or unable to reach a polling station on election day, may mail in an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots must be sent from Menghean soil, thus Mengheans living overseas cannot vote unless they return in person; an exception exists for military personnel serving at sea or on overseas bases.

Voting rights may also be revoked on other grounds. Citizens may not cast ballots from prison or jail, even if not yet convicted of a crime, nor may they cast ballots while on parole. Male citizens over the age of 19 who did not submit to a [[Conscription in Menghe#Draft_process|conscription eligibility check]], or who were conscripted but did not appear for training, are also denied suffrage until they complete their training. At the judge's discretion, individuals convicted of {{wp|misdemeanors}} may regain the right to vote after release, usually with a waiting period of five or ten years, while convicted felons lose the right to vote indefinitely. Suffrage may be restored to a convicted criminal if their case is cleared by a review court or if they are pardoned by the Chairman of the Supreme Council.

==Voting process==
Five weeks before an election, citizens wishing to run for office must first seek the approval of the relevant district's Election Board, a temporary body which determines the list of candidates appearing on the ballot. Each National Assembly district has an election board, as does each Provincial Assembly district and each County-level unit; candidates in village-level elections must seek the approval of the county-level board above them. By law, candidates must hold Menghean citizenship, reside in their constituency for at least five years, and be over the Standard Age of 24. Further qualifications, which may include a high score on the [[National_Administration_Examination_(Menghe)|National Administration Examination]], a certain number of signatures on a petition, or a clean criminal record, are left to the discretion of provincial lawmakers and the Election Boards themselves. Until 2019, it was standard practice for Election Boards to require that candidates running in legislative elections have the endorsement of the United Front for National Restoration. Parties generally choose nominees through their own internal process, and can nominate multiple candidates from the same party to run in an election.

Once candidates are approved by the Election Board, they may only {{wp|Political_campaign|campaign}} during the three weeks immediately preceding the election. There are strict regulations on campaign finance, advertising, and political speech: public news channels are prohibited from covering campaign events, and campaign posters may only be mounted on special boards in front of polling stations, with one poster of equal size for each candidate. Public speeches and rallies by candidates or their support groups may be broken up by [[National_Police_Agency_(Menghe)|police]] if they violate local laws on public order or noise.

Ballots in Menghe follow a standard national format, as specified by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Voters entering the polling station receive a separate ballot for each office up for election, with the list of names approved by the Election Board printed on it. To the left side of each name is the emblem of their party, and to the right is a blank space. Voters select their choice by using a red {{wp|rubber stamp}} (usually engraved with the [[Menghean language#Gomun|Gomun]] character 選, "choose") to mark the blank space next to the candidate of their choice. This is a {{wp|single non transferable vote}} system, with no option to rank preferences or choose a party list. There is no option for {{wp|write-in candidate}}s, either. Ballots are color-coded by office, and are deposited in separate matching-color ballot boxes for each office: white for village-level elections, green for council elections, orange for provincial assemblies, and blue for the National Assembly.

If a voter stamped multiple boxes, or added a write-in name, the ballot is considered {{wp|Spoilt_vote|spoilt}} and excluded from the tally; if an ink stamp overlaps between two boxes, it is counted as belonging to the candidate with at least 50% of the stamp in their box.   Traditionally, vote-counting was carried out manually by staff hired by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but some districts have purchased optical paper-scanning machines similar to those used in banks to count money and record checks. As of 2019, no districts have switched over to electronic ballots.

Votes are tallied on a simple-plurality, {{wp|First-past-the-post_voting|first-past-the-post}} basis, with the election going to whichever candidate has the largest number of votes even if they lack a majority. If the election is very close, the Election Board may call a recount at its discretion, or may hold a board vote to determine the winner. There is no provision for second-round or runoff elections.

==Elections by locality==
===Village-level===
In rural "[[Administrative_divisions_of_Menghe#Fifth-Level_Divisions|fifth-level divisions]]" (villages and towns), the mayor (''rijang'' or ''ŭbjang'' respectively) is directly elected, with elections taking place every two years. In ''myŏn'', the urban equivalent, there is no executive office. In ''gaja'', special fifth-level divisions in the Dzungar and Ketchvan Semi-Autonomous Provinces, the village chief may be either elected or selected in accordance with tribal custom. Under the 1989 Yusin constitution, this is the only administrative level at which the executive faces a popular vote. 

International observers consider village elections to be the fairest in Menghe, with genuine competition between candidates. Independent candidates were first allowed to run at this level in 1989, provided that they received the approval of a local elections board, and there have been numerous cases of independent candidates winning village or town mayorships. The Menghean Socialist Party tolerates this greater leeway because fifth-level governments have extremely limited administrative power, and are mainly responsible for overseeing the allocation of services budgeted by higher governments.

===County-level===
In "[[Administrative_divisions_of_Menghe#Fourth-Level_Divisions|fourth-level divisions]]" (counties, county-level cities, and metropolitan districts), the appointed executive leader is advised by a group of elected councilmembers, generally between 3 and 7. Each councilmember represents a separate single-member district, and elections are held every year. Councilmember districts may be contiguous with village, town, ''myŏn'', or ''gaja'' borders, though they are generally larger and sometimes cut across smaller units, especially in urban areas.

As in village-level elections, the MSP tolerates relatively genuine competition at this level because councilmembers have very limited power. While they may vote on advisory papers for the county head, their votes are nonbinding, and the county head can dissolve the council and call new elections at his or her discretion. Most councilmember work consists of constituency service, with rural councilmembers overseeing service provision by the village-level leaders below them, and urban councilmembers overseeing service provision directly. Councilmembers also play an important role in gathering public input on local policy issues and weighing possible options at deliberative meetings.

===Provincial assemblies===

===National Assembly===

==Electoral freedom==

==See also==
* [[Government of Menghe]]
* [[National Assembly (Menghe)]]
* [[National Social Consultative Conference (Menghe)]]
* [[Menghean Socialist Party]]

[[Category:Menghe]]