1909 Chinese parliamentary election
First Qing dynasty election
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The 1909 Chinese parliamentary election was an indirect election to the first imperial Advisory Council, a preparatory body of the parliament created under the constitutional reform bought by the late Qing dynasty. It was seen as the first popular election in Chinese history.[1]
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September â October 1909
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196 seats (of 200 seats) to the Advisory Council 101 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Constitutionalist majority Independent majority Divided between constitutionalists and independents Divided between constitutionalists and revolutionaries No election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Originally 100 members, half of the seats in the council were to be elected by the members of the Provincial Consultative Assemblies, while the other half were appointed by the Emperor. Due to the fact the Provincial Consultative Assembly had not been set up in Sinkiang, the seats were reduced to 98.
Translations with bracketed Chinese text are for reference only.
Electoral system
The candidates were indirectly elected by members of Consultative Assembly in provinces. The number of candidate each electorate shall vote for was double the delegated seats. Amongst all the supported candidates, half of them would be chosen by the governor as elected members. Appointed members included a certain degree of election features as there were considerable size of eligible members.[1]
Constituencies
The new Advisory Council only consisted of 196 members, instead of 200 as planned, as Consultative Assembly was not established in Sinkiang, and the number of appointed members shrank to 98 to achieve the balance.
Elected members are as follows:
Appointed members are as follows:
| Constituency | Seats | Constituency | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Officials (åé¨é¢è¡éå®) | 32 | Scholars (碩å¸éå) | 10 | |
| Princes of Imperial Family (å®å®¤çå ¬ä¸çµ) | 14 | Large Taxpayers (ç´ç¨ å¤é¡) | 10 | |
| Princes of Feudatories (å¤è©çå ¬ä¸çµ) | 14 | Descendants of Emperor (å®å®¤è¦ºç¾ ) | 6 | |
| Nobility of Manchu and Han (滿漢ä¸çµ) | 12 |
Result
The constitutionalists, who advocated constitutional monarchy in Qing, secured a majority in the Advisory Council. The revolutionaries on the other hand, despite being banned by the authorities, won a few seats.[2][3] The party membership is only estimation as the political party system was immature at the time. Some members resigned during the session and the vacancies were filled according to the precedence list, which is not reflected here.
| Political party | Elected | Appointed | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Constitutionalism Association (æ²æ¿ç¶æé²è¡æ) | 38 | 37 | 75 | |
| Xinhai Club (è¾äº¥ä¿±æ¨é¨) | 4 | 7 | 11 | |
| Chinese Empire Reform Association | 10 | 0 | 10 | |
| Political Science Club (æ¿å¸æ) | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Preparative Constitutionalism Association (é åç«æ²å ¬æ) | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Brotherhood of Petition for Parliament (åæè«é¡åå¿æ) | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| Joint Association of Provincial Consultative Assemblies (åçè«®è°å±è¯åæ) | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Guangdong Autonomous Chamber of Commerce (ç²µåèªæ²»æ) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Preparative Constitutionalism Association of Guizhou (è²´å·æ²æ¿é åæ) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 66 | 50 | 116 | ||
| Tongmenghui | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Association for Guizhou Autonomy (è²´å·èªæ²»å¸ç¤¾) | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 27 | 45 | 72 | ||
| Vacant | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 200 | |
Detailed results
| Zhili | Zhejiang | Jiangsu | Jiangxi | Shandong | Sichuan | Anhui | Henan | Hunan | Shanxi | Yunnan | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Constitutionalism Association | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Chinese Empire Reform Association | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Xinhai Club | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Political Science Club | 1 | |||||||||||
| Preparative Constitutionalism Association | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Brotherhood of Petition for Parliament | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Joint Association of Provincial Consultative Assemblies | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Tongmenghui | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Independents | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Total | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | |
| Hubei | Guangdong | Fujian | Shaanxi | Fengtian | Gansu | Guangxi | Guizhou | Heilongjiang | Jilin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Constitutionalism Association | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| Chinese Empire Reform Association | 1 | ||||||||||
| Guangdong Autonomous Chamber of Commerce | 1 | ||||||||||
| Preparative Constitutionalism Association of Guizhou | 1 | ||||||||||
| Association for Guizhou Autonomy | 1 | ||||||||||
| Independents | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Officials | Imperial Prince | Feudatory Prince | Nobility | Scholars | Taxpayers | Emperor's Descendants | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Constitutionalism Association | 14 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 3 | ||
| Xinhai Club | 6 | |||||||
| Political Science Club | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Preparative Constitutionalism Association | 2 | |||||||
| Tongmenghui | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Independents | 9 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Total | 32 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 6 | |