Politics of China

In the People's Republic of China, politics functions within a communist state framework based on the system of people's congress under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The National People's Congress (NPC) functions as the supreme organ of state power and only branch of government per the principle of unified state power. The CCP leads state activities by holding two-thirds of the seats in the NPC, and these party members are responsible for implementing the policies adopted by the CCP Central Committee and National Congress. The NPC has unlimited state power bar the limitations it sets on itself in the state constitution. By controlling the NPC, the CCP has complete state power. China's two special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau, are nominally autonomous from this system.

The Chinese political system is considered authoritarian. There are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all organized religious activity is controlled by the CCP, dissent is not permitted, and civil rights are curtailed. Direct elections occur only at the local level, not the national level, with all candidate nominations controlled by the CCP. The nature of the elections is highly constrained by the CCP's monopoly on power, censorship, and party control over elections. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP.