China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has vowed to punish malpractice in this year's local elections.
More than 900 million Chinese will elect about 2.5 million lawmakers in over 2,850 county-level regions and 32,000 townships in the elections running into next year.
Under China's Electoral Law, deputies to people's congresses at the level of townships and counties, who account for more than 90 percent of lawmakers nationwide, are elected directly by voters every five years.
The SPP urged prosecutors to look out for malpractice including bribery, vote-buying, infringement of rights to vote, as well as negligence of duty.
Officials who are found to have taken revenge on whistleblowers will be harshly punished, the SPP said in a statement.
Procuratorates at all levels are ordered to work with local Party committees, disciplinary organs and organizational departments to carefully oversee the elections.
In a massive electoral fraud case in Hengyang City of Hunan Province in 2013, 56 provincial legislators offered 110 million yuan (18 million U.S. dollars) in bribes to nearly 600 municipal lawmakers and members of staff.
A total of 467 people have been given Party or administrative punishment for their roles in the case, and 69 were indicted.
