Direct Democracy - Any institution operates according to the law

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Trieu Van Cuong delivered a concluding speech at the monitoring session.

Ensure the principles of publicity and democracy

Reporting to the working delegation, the Provincial People's Committee said that the implementation of the law on direct democracy is stipulated in legal documents, laws and decrees of the Government . Direct democracy is a method of operation according to the mechanism of "Party leadership, State management, People mastery" and the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit".

In recent times, the implementation of the law on direct democracy at the local level has achieved the following results: The organization of elections of deputies to the National Assembly , deputies to People's Councils at all levels and the election of hamlet and ward chiefs has been thoroughly grasped and promptly implemented by Party committees, authorities, and the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels in the province. The rate of voters participating in the election of deputies to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels in the elections is very high (in the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term, voters participated in the vote reaching 99.82%).

Implementing the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit", information and communication agencies at all levels in the province promptly provide information and propagate the Party's guidelines and the State's policies and laws to the people.

The people exercise state power through direct democracy, representative democracy through the National Assembly, People's Councils and other state agencies (Article 6 of the 2013 Constitution), through community meetings and voting. Issues within the scope of people's decisions are brought to the public by the province for discussion and decision.

Along with the implementation of monitoring activities, authorities at all levels have seriously carried out social criticism before submitting to competent authorities for approval annual socio-economic plans, economic, cultural and social development programs and projects that affect people's lives. In the period of 2013-2023, the Fatherland Front system and socio-political organizations in the province carried out social criticism on 591 contents.

The province has implemented citizen reception, settlement of citizen complaints and denunciations in accordance with the law. Localities, agencies and units have developed regulations for citizen reception and strictly implemented citizen reception according to regulations. In 2023, the province received 2,046 visits/1,815 people/1,529 cases. All complaints and denunciations were promptly and thoroughly resolved and handled by all levels, with the resolution rate reaching over 79% (some cases were complicated in nature and level and were not resolved within the prescribed time).

Implementing the Law on Grassroots Democracy and related legal regulations, investment policies and strategies before being issued are all made public, transparent, and organized by all levels, sectors and localities to collect public opinions in accordance with legal regulations.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Van Chien spoke at the meeting.

There are still difficulties and limitations in implementing direct democracy.

The Provincial People's Committee stated that regarding the difficulties, obstacles, inadequacies, and limitations in implementing the law on direct democracy, there are some points to note, such as: The Law on Election of National Assembly Deputies and People's Council Deputies uses the term "ballot box" while some localities are used to using the term "ballot box", which more or less causes obstacles in training and propagating voting because people are used to using the term "ballot box".

“The regulation of the vote counting time right after the end of the election (after 7 p.m. on the same day) in reality shows that some election teams have elderly members, poor health, and a large number of voters, so the accuracy of the vote counting is not high, easily leading to errors. Election teams that have reached 100% voter turnout should count the votes early, not waiting until 7 p.m. to start counting the votes” – the Provincial People's Committee proposed.

Regarding the Law on Organization of Local Government, the Provincial People's Committee stated that some contents on the apparatus structure, supervision activities, questioning, examination, order of passing resolutions, projects, reports... in the Law are not consistent with other legal documents (such as the Law on Supervision Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils, the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents...); some other contents are not specifically regulated in the Law such as the authority of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council in deciding on issues arising between two sessions; the delegation of authority to the Standing Committee of the People's Council, regulations on the process and procedures for election, resignation, dismissal, removal, transfer, and removal of a number of positions elected by the People's Council; abolishment of subordinate documents; and taking a vote of confidence.

According to current regulations, the organizational structure of the People's Council at the commune level still has some shortcomings such as: there is no People's Council Delegate Group at the commune level, causing difficulties in discussion activities, reviewing reports submitted to the People's Council at the session, in organizing meetings with voters in the locality and other activities; the majority of People's Council delegates work part-time, the quality of delegates is uneven, and fluctuations in the number of delegates during the term sometimes affect the activities of the People's Council.

Regarding the Law on Grassroots Democracy, according to the Provincial People's Committee, the regulations on establishment, membership standards, tasks and powers of the Community Investment Supervision Board in Articles 41, 42, 43 are very difficult to organize and implement in practice, because it is difficult to find people in the community who meet the participation standards. The tasks of the Community Investment Supervision Board are not feasible in implementing some contents in Clause 1, Article 43 such as monitoring the conformity of investment policies and investment decisions with planning and investment plans in the commune.

Regarding the Law on Complaints, the Provincial People's Committee recommends: the regulations on the statute of limitations for complaints are not consistent with the Law on Administrative Procedures, causing difficulties for the enforcement of legally effective administrative decisions by relevant agencies...

Delegation members speak out

Direct democracy is for the people

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Pham Van Dang - Director of the Department of Justice acknowledged that implementing direct democracy and grassroots democracy, the propaganda stage needs to focus on content to attract people's participation, because currently there is abundant information, people go on social networks to see only what they like.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Long - Director of the Youth Affairs Department said that the implementation of direct democracy is related to "a forest of laws". Summarizing, evaluating and reviewing legal documents is very important, thereby discovering things that are no longer appropriate for adjustment.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Trieu Van Cuong highly appreciated Tay Ninh's results in implementing direct democracy, and asked Tay Ninh to add the work done in practice to the report so that the working delegation could have more information.

"Evaluating the results of implementing direct democracy is evaluating people's satisfaction. Any institution must operate according to the law," said Deputy Minister Trieu Van Cuong.

The survey team noted that in merging administrative units, it is necessary to seek people's opinions and listen to them. In reality, there have been cases where people did not agree to transfer administrative units from rural areas to urban areas, because they were concerned about high education and transportation costs. Deputy Minister Trieu Van Cuong suggested that Tay Ninh continue to strictly implement the provisions of the law on direct democracy, paying special attention to issues related to people and businesses.

Viet Dong

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/dan-chu-truc-tiep-the-che-nao-cung-van-hanh-theo-luat-phap-a171974.html