中國政治體制改革的努力方向之一是希望獎勵地方政府進行民主實驗，藉以體現公民的政治參與。「民主懇談會」的實驗在浙江省溫嶺市下轄的五鄉鎮中逐漸展開，此舉不僅引發中國大陸內部的重視，更引起西方學者的關注。1999 年溫嶺市開始出現「民主懇談」活動，中國大陸政治學界開始從西方審議式民主的角度嘗試討論。不過，本文認為，從這個視野來討論民主懇談會恐會誤解，蓋因民主懇談其實屬於一種不涉及民主選舉的民意表達形式，或者說它根本就不討論選舉與民主懇談的內在關係，試著找出一種沒有選舉的民主形式。經過研究，本文有如下的初步結論，一、「民主懇談會」是從體制外的實驗走向體制內的連結，透過人大來進行改革；二、公共預算議題較具可操作性，預算審查程序漸具透明與公開的性質；三、民主懇談若能將人民的選舉權再進行制度稼接，人大代表會更有主動性。最後，民主懇談制度必須能擴散，並朝向嚴謹的監督制度邁進，否則終究只是曇花一現。

One of the PRC’s political reform programs is to stimulate local governments to experiment democracy, through which the practices of civic
political participation can be performed. Under such circumstances, the
model of “democratic consultation” within the five townships in Wenling
City, Zhejiang Province forms a trend, which has attracted attention from
domestic governments and international scholars. The form of “democratic
consultation” started in Wenling City in 1999. Since then, political scientists in China have studied it from the view of “deliberative democracy”, a perspective from western studies. However, this article considers that such perspective would lead to a misunderstanding of “democratic consultation”. The character of “democratic consultation” is no more than an expression of opinion in which the direct elections have never blended in. That is to say, the “democratic consultation” does not touch upon the relations of election and democracy; it is a democratic style without free election. In aspect to the political development in China, the authors conclude the following: (1) It may be time to experiment reform in the CCP; (2) public budgetary issue is more operational, and the process of budget review is more open and transparent; (3) the more promotion on democratic consultation is, the more active the local people’s congresses will be; (4) the mode of “democratic consultation” should be applied in other areas, and a rigid check and balance mechanism has to be maintained.