People celebrate in front of the White House in Washington/AFP
The world’s two biggest economies are choosing their leaders around the same time, a quirk of timing that highlights the stark contrast between China’s secretive communist system and America’s boisterous democracy.
The “voters” were among several hundred Chinese who were invited to join American citizens in the balloting at an election party organised by the US embassy. Obama emerged the landslide winner with 153 votes to 51.
“It is unfortunate that China cannot have elections like this,” a beaming He Jiangtao told AFP after casting his vote.
“As long as the Communist Party is in power, it is unlikely that China will ever have democratic elections,” said He, a marketing consultant.
While Obama was re-elected to another term before the eyes of the world, China will choose its next leaders behind closed doors at its five-yearly party congress that opens in Beijing on Thursday.
At the week-long congress, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will step down from their top party posts to make way for a new leadership to take the reins of the world’s most populous nation for the next decade.
Chinese citizens have no say in that choice, and the mock vote thrilled some participants.
“I voted for Obama. I support the Democratic Party because it is very liberal. For me, they better represent American freedom,” Wang Zheng, manager of a travel agency, told AFP.
“You can see how excited and happy the supporters of Obama are,” Wang said pointing to celebrations in the United States broadcast on large-screen televisions.
“You won’t see anything like this after the 18th party congress, people will not be expressing their happiness like that,” he said.
Embassy staff carefully explained to the mock voters the US electoral system involving simultaneous balloting for Congress and various ballot initiatives.
Mock voters also lined up to take pictures with life-size photos of Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney as television screens beamed live election coverage from major US networks.
“The world is looking to see if China will have something new to offer with the economy and with its politics, so the (Communist Party congress) should show what road China will go down,” said He Jie, an official at a human resources agency.
“I hope they (the Communist Party) can better listen to the opinions of the people, and react to what the people want and do it for them, instead of always making decisions by themselves on what should be done.”
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