More seats will now be allotted to women, workers, professional and farmers as China's legislature aims to change the composition of the National People's Congress, The Associated Press reported.
Citing an article by state-run Xinhua News Agency, the plan will significantly reduce the proportion of delegates that represent the different Chinese government departments and the ruling Communist Party.
Currently, representatives from the said groups make up about a third of the NPC's nearly 3,000 members. Back when the current legislature was seated in 2013, only 23 percent of its members were women. No data were available as to how many were workers and professionals.
In Chinese politics, the NPC and its advisory body, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meet once a year for its full session. This gathering lasts for about 10 days. "The day-to-day work of vetting legislation is handled by the NPC's much smaller standing meeting that meets twice a month," the article noted.
These two bodies have earned the moniker of being China's rich man's club as over 150 of its members are tagged as billionaires by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report. The list includes Robin Li, chairman of Internet giant Baidu, whose fortune amounts to $14 billion, and Tencent Ltd. founder a Huateng, whose net worth is at $24 billion.
Last Wednesday, NPC Vice Chairman Wang Chen told delegates that the Communist Party is vigilant in its effort of chasing after those who commit fraud and vote buying in the election of deputies by the provincial assembly members.
Reports from last year noted that 45 deputies from the Liaoning Province have been ejected because of vote buying.
Wang further remarked that the delegates should expect more changes in the future.
Chinese President and CCP leader Xi Jinping has previously "put forward a whole new set of ideas, propositions and requirements on the development of socialist democracy and the system of people's congresses."