The multiple mechanisms of digital government empowering whole-process people's democracy in border ethnic areas: An empirical analysis based on Yunnan's 'digital and smart people's congress'

Whole-process people's democracy is an essential requirement of Chinese-style modernization. Border ethnic areas have special geographical conditions and complex social structures, where the costs for the masses to express their interests are often high, relevant information enters the decision-making process not in a timely manner, and various opinions frequently appear fragmented and scattered. This paper takes Yunnan Province's "Digital and Smart People's Congress" as the object of analysis to observe whether digital government can support the effective operation of whole-process people's democracy in the border environment. Existing practices indicate that relevant explorations do not simply migrate existing work online but instead make corresponding adjustments around such links as public opinion collection, handling feedback, capacity cultivation, and institutional operation, thereby gradually improving the actual conditions for democratic participation in border areas. At the same time, problems such as insufficient digital access, slow grassroots adaptation, and limited algorithm application still exist. Therefore, it is necessary to continue making efforts in enhancing digital inclusiveness, promoting the convergence of government data with people's congress procedures, and strengthening online-offline synergy, so that technological application always revolves around democratic values and institutional advantages are effectively transformed into governance outcomes that the masses can perceive.