Chapter 84
In Ye Manzhi's view, the National People's Congress is sacred and mysterious.
She had seen the pomp and ceremony when Director Mu attended district meetings as a people's representative.
Wearing a cadre uniform, with a representative certificate pinned on his chest, and recording the opinions of the masses in his notebook, he exudes a sense of mission.
Very grand!
If there is a chance to be a people's representative and reflect the voice of the masses, Ye Manzhi would certainly want to fight for the opportunity for himself!
When she heard that residents' and workers' representatives would be elected, she even greedily wanted her parents to participate in the elections as well so that they could share in the glory.
However, after she sat in the conference room and listened to the leader's speech, she realized that her previous thoughts were pure daydreaming.
According to her understanding, the process of electing people's representatives and neighborhood committee directors should be similar.
Anyone who wants to be a representative can sign up for the election, and then after voters vote, the person with the highest number of votes will be the representative.
However, she listened carefully to the leader's speech on the stage, and his original words were:
"The nomination of representative candidates should be done through leadership nomination. After extensive deliberation and incorporation of public opinion, a preliminary list should be drawn up and submitted to the district election committee for in-depth review before a decision is made on the candidates."
She stared at the two lines of words on the notebook, pondered for a long time, and then circled the four words "leadership nomination" with a pen.
If it were in the factory, the director would have nominated it. If it were in their street office, Zhang Qinjian would have nominated it!
No wonder Zhang Qinjian is not in a hurry to come to the district for the meeting!
He already knows this, he will be the one to nominate the preliminary list!
However, it is unlikely that he will have the final say on such matters.
On the one hand, this nomination must be "extensively deliberated and combined with the opinions of the masses", and on the other hand, "the district election committee must also have an in-depth understanding."
Ye Manzhi feels that in-depth understanding of the district is more crucial.
There are a total of 202 representatives in Zhengyang District this time, and Guangming Street has been allocated 15 seats.
Although there are 15 places, not all of them will be selected just by putting the name on the list.
At today's meeting, everyone has discussed the distribution ratios of various classes and aspects in this general election based on the actual situation in the district.
For example, there should be 10 representatives from democratic parties, 4 from mass organizations, 22 from government agencies, 46 from workers, 11 from the business community, 64 from residents, and also representatives from education, farmers, artists, religious groups, ethnic minorities, and women.
Ye Manzhi counted them carefully and found that there were sixteen items in total.
Guangming Street can directly nominate 15 workers for the 15 quotas, or 5 workers and 10 resident representatives, or other combinations. In any case, the nomination method will be decided internally by Guangming Street.
However, if the representative nominated by Guangming Street does not have a rich enough resume or outstanding personal achievements, he or she may be squeezed out of the list by representatives from other streets.
She felt that when making nominations, street leaders still needed to understand how to deploy their forces and recommend the strongest lineup in the street in order to get all the representative seats.
Ye Manzhi stayed in the district for most of the day and brought the spirit of the meeting back to the street office before leaving get off work.
Zhang Qinjian had organized election activities for people's representatives a long time ago and was quite familiar with it.
After reviewing Ye Manzhi's record of the quota allocation ratio, he immediately made the decision, saying, "Tomorrow, we will organize a joint meeting of all the neighborhood committee directors and deputy directors. Let's all discuss the candidates for the people's representatives together."
After hearing his arrangements, Ye Manzhi felt quite ashamed. She had been petty before and thought that Zhang Qinjian would have the final say. She didn't expect that he would decide to call the core members together to discuss the candidates.
She was just lamenting her own narrow-mindedness when she heard Zhang Qinjian say, "The last time we organized a general election, District Chief Mu and I submitted the preliminary list four times, and it took over a month to get it approved. This time, let's listen to the opinions of the masses and strive to get it approved in one go."
Ye Manzhi: “…”
It turns out that every failure makes you wiser.
The directors' joint meeting the next day was held in a large classroom of the Anti-Imperialist Primary School.
Zhang Qinjian stood behind the podium, as serious as a head teacher.
"The elections will soon be fully underway. Grassroots elections are the foundation for elections to municipal and provincial people's congresses, and even the National People's Congress. Our grassroots units must pay sufficient attention to universal suffrage, so..."
Balabala gave a quarter-hour opening speech, emphasizing the importance of universal suffrage.
He then spent five minutes talking about the significance of joint nomination and equal election.
Ye Manzhi's pen was scribbling on the notebook until she finally perked up when she heard him ask the directors of each neighborhood committee to nominate candidates.
"Director Zhang, let me say a few words first!" Director Guo of the Fourth Neighborhood Committee spoke first. "Our Guangming Street situation is quite unique. Because there are many factories and cooperatives on this street, there are relatively many workers and cooperative members. We don't know how they perform in their units, so I think it's best to seek the opinions of the leaders of the units where they are nominated for worker and handicraft representatives."
"I support Lao Guo's point of view! Besides, there are more workers in our street than elsewhere, accounting for 40% of the total population. The nomination ratio should not be based on the district's 23%. At least 5 places should be given to workers, which is more appropriate."
Zhang Qinjian slammed the table and said, "It doesn't matter how many spots we give you. As long as their achievements are outstanding enough, we can give all 15 spots to workers! Please recommend candidates first!"
"Oh, then I recommend Director Zhao from the General Assembly Workshop of Factory 656. He's a city-level model worker and has been recognized as an advanced individual for several consecutive years. He was also the worker representative in the previous term. The district shouldn't object to his re-election."
Zhang Qinjian nodded and said, "This is a good idea. If the representatives from the previous term have no problems, they can continue to participate in the election."
Several names familiar to Ye Manzhi were quickly called out in the classroom. They were all residents with outstanding deeds and had previously served as people's representatives.
Director Li of the Fifth Neighborhood Committee said, "Let me suggest another candidate. We haven't nominated student representatives in previous years, mainly because we don't have any suitable college students on our block. The students either got accepted to other places, or their schools aren't well-known enough, and their own progress isn't high enough. This year, Comrade Zhou Mu from our Fifth Neighborhood Committee was admitted to a provincial university. I think we can nominate Comrade Zhou Mu as a student representative!"
This year, only the son of Deputy Director Zhou of Factory 656 on the entire street was admitted to the provincial university.
Everyone present knew who Zhou Mu was.
But Zhou Mu is still a student, and we don’t know his specific situation and can’t give any evaluation.
For a moment, no one spoke in agreement or disagreement.
Ye Manzhi was paying attention to the movements in the classroom. Seeing that no one objected to the nomination, he couldn't help but feel angry.
The Zhou family dared to tamper with other people's medical examination reports. Although Zhou Mu was not directly involved, he knew about it but kept it secret and colluded with other female comrades to deceive his fiancée. Why should such a person be a people's representative?
She had no say in matters of university admission, but the work of electing people's representatives was going on right under her nose.
If someone like Zhou Mu were to be elected as a people's representative, then her position as deputy director would be too incompetent!
"I don't think it's appropriate to nominate Zhou Mu."
Ye Manzhi spoke directly and clearly expressed his opposition.
"Zhou Mu is a student at the Provincial University, but he's not the only local student there. He's been enrolled for less than a semester, isn't a Party member, and isn't a student leader. He doesn't have any particularly outstanding academic or political achievements. And there's only one student representative slot available for the entire Zhengyang District."
"As far as I know, the student representative to the last People's Congress was a transfer student from the provincial university. He hasn't graduated yet and will likely continue to run for People's Representative. Compared to him, Zhou Mu is less competitive. Our street's 15 spots are too valuable. We should give more to resident representatives and worker representatives. Let's forgo nominating student representatives."
Ye Manzhi's words were reasonable and received a lot of response from people.
Zhou Mu is considered a decent figure on Guangming Street, but his strength is not enough to compete with others for a representative position in the district.
No one mentioned the nomination of student representatives again.
Several directors and deputy directors of the neighborhood committees competed for the seats of residents' representatives, and soon came to the nomination stage of agency representatives.
There must be a street-level official among the 15 positions.
There are currently eight cadres in the street office, and it is a problem who to give this only position to.
Candidates are nominated by others and no one nominates themselves.
So, even if everyone is saying "choose me, choose me" in their hearts, you have to pretend to be calm and wait for others to jointly nominate you.
He Qiang from the First Residential Committee is a die-hard supporter of Zhang Qinjian. He was the first to speak up and said, "I think this position should go to Director Zhang Qinjian. Our street's achievements this year are obvious to all, and Director Zhang has made an indelible contribution."
There is really nothing wrong with giving the spot to Zhang Qinjian.
When Mulan was the director, this representative seat belonged to Mulan. Now that Mulan has been promoted to the district, even if seniority is used, it should be Zhang Qinjian's turn.
However, there are only 22 representatives from the district's agencies, and there are at least 80 cadres of all ranks in the district's agencies. With so many people competing for 22 places, judging from Zhang Qinjian's personal experience, he may not have a chance of winning.
Although Zhang Qinjian contributed to the achievements of Guangming Street, Mulan suppressed him completely when she was around.
Ordinary cadres in the street participate in the selection of advanced individuals at the end of the year, while directors and deputy directors participate in the selection of grassroots work models.
Guangming Street has applied for the model title three times in total. When recommending Mulan, he was selected twice. However, when recommending Zhang Qinjian, perhaps the competition was too fierce, he unfortunately failed!
Therefore, although Zhang Qinjian has served as the deputy director of the street for more than three years, he has never won any decent personal awards.
Ye Manzhi didn't have any personal awards, and she thought that their situations were about the same.
Zhang Qinjian's advantage is nothing more than that he has more qualifications than her and can be ranked ahead of her in terms of seniority.
However, even if he couldn't get in, Ye Manyi wanted to give himself a chance.
After the preliminary list reaches the district, the district election committee will also comprehensively consider the situation of the entire district and select the candidates nominated by each unit.
What if she gets chosen?
So, after the two people nominated Zhang Qinjian, Ye Manzhi spoke again.
"I'd also like to nominate Director Zhang. Although I'm only the deputy director, I still have to shamelessly say that our subdistrict's work achievements this year are indeed outstanding. Especially since Director Zhang and I took office, our subdistrict office has accomplished two major projects that have received widespread acclaim."
"One was inviting the mayor to give the first lesson on socialist ideology and politics to the residents of Guangming Street. Later, leaders from the Industrial Bureau and the Education Bureau gave the second and third lessons. The other was the joint efforts of female comrades to open a March 8th convenience service station, providing many benefits to the residents. With Director Zhang's strong support, these two initiatives were able to proceed smoothly and rapidly. Therefore, I also think that nominating Director Zhang is a very reasonable decision."
Hearing this, Zhang Qinjian smiled with satisfaction.
The quota for representatives of this agency is usually given to the director and deputy director.
Since Ye Manzhi mentioned his name, the spot is basically his.
As for whether they will eventually be selected by the district, it is not something they need to worry about.
Ye Manzhi continued, "In addition to Director Zhang, I'd also like to nominate Comrade Liu Jinbao. Everyone knows about the recent uproar over the enemy spy case. Comrade Liu Jinbao was stabbed by a female spy and was seriously injured. In terms of qualifications and past achievements, Liu Jinbao is certainly not as good as Director Zhang, but I admire Comrade Liu Jinbao's courage to confront spies head-on. Even if his chances of being selected are slim, I still want to nominate Comrade Liu Jinbao!"
"Yes, Jinbao is really great. We should give some encouragement to young people!" After hearing Ye Manzhi's words, those who had a good relationship with Liu Jinbao immediately echoed her.
Liu Jinbao actually had some ideas about this quota.
His injury has a time limit. If he was injured this year and made contributions, he can only apply for this year's award.
There will be work to do next year. If this matter is put off until next year, it will be out of date.
Therefore, he wants to seize this opportunity this year to strive for a seat as a people's representative.
Of course, there are risks in competing with the unit leader for the same position.
It would be fine if he was not selected, but if he was selected, he might be put on Zhang Qinjian's blacklist.
Liu Jinbao is not a young man who knows nothing. When Ye Manzhi nominated Zhang Qinjian, he first mentioned the mayor and then the service station. Outsiders may not know the inside story, but the people in the street office all know that Ye Manzhi is in charge of those two tasks.
She has ideas about the number of representatives!
So, he took the initiative and said, "Then I would like to nominate Comrade Ye Manzhi. The People's Classroom and the Convenience Service Center were both established by Deputy Director Ye. The income of the family handicraft industry she is responsible for has been the highest in the city since the beginning of this year. This result is also very competitive in the district."
He nominated Ye Manyi, on the one hand to return the favor, and on the other hand to ask her to help attract Lao Zhang's attention.
No matter who is elected in the end, he will not offend both directors.
*
There were only 15 spots available for Guangming Street, but 22 people were jointly nominated at the conference that day.
Zhang Qinjian is quite concerned about his reputation and demeanor. It is impossible for him to eliminate the other two nominated candidates just to be elected as a representative.
Since the street's joint nomination has not yet been decided, the 22-person primary list will be handed over to the district.
Joint nomination by superiors.
Although the two young people have achieved some results, their foundation is not strong enough. Even if they are nominated, they will most likely just be on the list.
He didn't mind being magnanimous and submitted the preliminary list of 22 people to the district.
All nominated candidates must submit a personal report.
Ye Manzhi doesn't have many personal achievements, but she has made many achievements in her work.
I added some new content to the resume I had written before, sorted it out a bit and submitted it.
Nominating candidates is only a small part of the general election process.
Next, the street office and police station will review the voters' qualifications, register voters door to door, and distribute voter cards.
Every time the voter qualifications are reviewed, a lot of trouble occurs.
Examining qualifications is equivalent to emphasizing everyone's class composition again.
Those who come from the working class and peasant class certainly feel honored, and generally hold their heads high and feel full of confidence.
But it’s hard to say when it comes to other people. Landlords, bullies, counter-revolutionaries, criminals, and the mentally ill do not have the right to vote.
At that time, everyone will be able to take their voter ID cards to the venue to cast their precious vote, and those who do not have voter ID cards will stand out.
On Wednesday morning, when all the staff of the street office were checking the voter ID cards, the office door was pushed open and a woman in her thirties walked in with her child.
As soon as he entered the room, he went straight to Auntie Feng's desk and asked angrily, "Auntie Feng, are you responsible for the street's support for the military and preferential treatment for the families of soldiers? Can we ask you to make decisions about our military families' affairs?"
Aunt Feng put down her pen and said, "I'm in charge. What can I do for you?"
"Chen Zhiqi passed the voter qualification review, so why can't I?" The woman pulled the child over and showed her the scab-covered forehead. "Her father is in the army and can't come back, so you're just letting her get bullied, right?"
There are quite a few military families and martyrs' families on Guangming Street, and Feng Chaoyang has an impression of the woman in front of him.
"Jiang Wanqiu, although you are a military dependent, your class status is still that of a landlord. According to regulations, landlords who have not changed their class status do not have the right to vote, and you will definitely not pass the qualification review."
Jiang Wanqiu said angrily, "Even a prisoner like Chen Zhiqi can pass. Am I worse than a prisoner?"
She didn't really want the right to vote.
One more vote won't make her gain any more weight.
However, now the whole street is promoting universal suffrage, with street officials and residents' committee members conducting qualification checks from house to house, and even primary school students joining in the fun.
The children know better than adults what kind of background each family has.
She came from a landlord family, and the news that she couldn't get a voter ID card was somehow spread by those children to the school.
Her daughter was pelted with dirt by her classmates for three consecutive days.
I hit my forehead and it's bleeding today!
Feng Chaoyang frowned and said, "Chen Zhiqi was released from labor reform. After the court restored his freedom, he also has the right to vote and be elected. Your situation is different."
Jiang Wanqiu felt aggrieved and his face flushed with anger. "What's the difference? How can he, a prisoner, be better than a landlord like me? Besides, I don't even have any land now. How can I be considered a landlord?"
Hearing her words becoming increasingly outrageous, Ye Manzhi put away her pen, beckoned, and said, "Sister Jiang, right? Come and talk to me. I'm also a military dependent, and we'll do our best to help you resolve this."
Ye Manzhi took out two pieces of fruit candy from the drawer and gave them to the little girl, asking her to go play nearby for a while while she talked to Jiang Wanqiu to find out the details.
"When did you marry the child's father?"
"1950."
"Have you lived in the city since then? Have you ever worked outside?"
"No, I got pregnant shortly after I got married, and since then I've been at home taking care of the child and the elderly."
"The neighborhood committee organizes some study classes for us military families and martyrs' families, such as literacy classes and political study classes. Have you ever been to these classes?"
"I've been to political study classes and tailoring classes, and two years ago I joined a support group for military wives."
Ye Manzhi nodded and wrote all the contents in his notebook in front of her.
After waiting for the other person to calm down, he continued, "Your situation is more complicated. If you had actively participated in labor in the countryside, you might have already changed your landlord status and become a peasant. But you don't have a job in the city, and you haven't participated in collective labor. The street office can't help you change your class status for the time being. According to regulations, landlords do not have the right to vote."
Jiang Wanqiu said with a dark look, "I don't necessarily have to fight for the right to vote, but my child's father is out there defending our country, and my child is at home, having his head slashed because of my background. Can you imagine how upset I must be?"
She felt really aggrieved and started wiping away tears as she spoke.
Wu Zhengrong has not been at home recently, and Ye Manzhi has been alone in the empty room with the cat. She puts herself in Jiang Wanqiu's position, raising the children alone. Not only is she looked down upon because of her background, but even Ye Lihua is bullied by other children. Wu Zhengrong is thousands of miles away and knows nothing about her experience. Imagining that scene, Ye Manzhi was overwhelmed with grief and cried with her.
Jiang Wanqiu didn't expect that the street leader would actually cry with her. She was already very sad, but Ye Manzhi's crying scared her tears back.
"Director Ye, why are you crying?"
"I just feel sorry for what we've been through!" Ye Manzhi choked up as she took out her handkerchief. "Sister Jiang, your landlord background can't be changed for the time being, but we can't let our child be bullied. Which school does your daughter go to?"
"First grader of the Anti-Imperialist Primary School."
"Which class?"
"Class A."
"Okay, I'll take my kids to school this afternoon and talk to the principal and the homeroom teacher about it. They're not allowed to bully military children. If anyone dares to bully military families again, we'll report it to the city and the military district!"
Jiang Wanqiu: “…”
There is no need to report it to the military district because her husband is not serving in his hometown.
Ye Manzhi made an appointment with her to send the child to school together in the afternoon.
After sending the person out of the street office, he was met with strange looks from everyone in the office.
"What are you looking at?"
Zhao Erhe exclaimed, "Director Ye, you're amazing at working with the masses! I need to learn a lot from you! Jiang Wanqiu looked difficult to deal with, but I didn't expect you to be able to handle her with just a few words of your own!"
"What do you know?" Ye Manzhi wiped her tears, glared at him and said, "I'm just speaking from my heart."
She ignored Zhao Erhe and turned to ask Aunt Feng, "Among the military and martyr families in our neighborhood, are there any others with similar situations to Jiang Wanqiu?"
"There are two others in similar situations, and one of them is a martyr's relative. They're not young anymore, and they got married before liberation."
Ye Manzhi nodded and said, "Men are on the front lines defending their country, while their wives and children are being bullied in the rear. This doesn't make sense in any way! Can we think of a solution in this regard? Landlords can't participate in agricultural labor in the city and can't become farmers, but they have received ideological and political education and have made progress in their thinking over the years. Can we give military families special care?"
"We are willing to take care of them, but this has to be done from the top down. Without notice from above, we can't arbitrarily change someone's class status."
Ye Manzhi sighed and said, "Then I'll think of another way. By the way, when I went to visit relatives in the south, I saw that the military families there would all hang honor plaques with the words 'Glorious Military Family' on their doors. Why don't we also hang one for the military and martyr families on Guangming Street? If they get bullied again, at least there's a sign to remind them that they're military families!"
If she were bullied like that, she would definitely call and telegraph Wu Zhengrong every day, causing chaos in his unit!
If he doesn't solve the problems in the rear, he can forget about staying in the army peacefully.
Ye Manzhi put the making of glory plaques on the agenda, and also organized a dragon and lion dance team to go to the doorsteps of all the military and martyrs' families, happily and ostentatiously hanging the glory plaques!
When Wu Zhengrong returned from a business trip in Beijing, he saw a group of people having a lively time in his yard, jumping and dancing, playing music, and even inviting a dragon and lion dance team out.
If I wasn't sure that Ye Lai Ya couldn't be pregnant right now, I would have thought his child was having a full moon banquet...
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