Tibetan deputies to the National People’s Congress discuss the 11th Five-year Plan during the ongoing session of the top legislature in Beijing yesterday.—Xinhua

Doubting deputies, who suspect the secret ballot system in the national legislature may not be so secret, recently were given a tour to dispel their doubts.

The National People's Congress has used secret ballots in voting on bills for more than half a century. But some lawmakers have suspected their votes may be recorded.

To remove misgivings, a delegation, including at least one engineer, were given a tour and explanation of the technology, and they came away satisfied.

At the current NPC session, lawmakers will vote on China's 11th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development, government work, parliament work, supreme court and procuratorate work, and the budget plan.

To address deputies' concerns and ensure candid voting, 70 deputies from 35 delegations were recently invited to the Great Hall of the People, the conference venue, to learn about and examine the system.

"Through the engineer's demonstration, I saw the ballot system only adds up signals of affirmative votes, negative votes and abstaining votes - but does not record deputies' stands in voting," said Wu Zixiang, general manager of Guangdong-based Huatai Monitoring Technology Co.

"According to my professional knowledge, I know that some countries have ballot systems that record procedures and show every legislator's stand in voting," said Wu, an engineer in monitoring technology. "However, China has adopted a secret ballot method in accordance with its laws and regulations, demonstrating the respect for lawmakers' will," he said.

Liu Qi, a professor with the Southwest Petroleum University and an NPC deputy in the Taiwan delegation, also examined the ballot system.

"I never had any misgiving when I pressed the key on the voting machine in front of me. The NPC organizers are very considerate to invite us to examine the ballot system."

Feng Binghong, an engineer in charge of the secret ballot system, said the current system was designed in strict accordance with the secret ballot principle enshrined in Chinese laws.

The system has been in operation for over 10 years, he said.

"On the voting machine, the green button means approval, red opposition and yellow abstention.