What is so chilling and heartbreaking about this documentary is that it literally is “democracy  in action.” Whereas we might think a third grade class monitor election would be an opportunity for an innocent, good faith run-through of an idealized democratic process with low stakes and ample chances for kids to develop their self-confidence, public speaking skills, and interest in leadership, what happens instead is a ruthless simulation of the unpleasant realities of electoral politics as they exist in practice, even in countries who could reasonably claim to be far more democratic than China. The election has it all: an instant gravitation toward negative advertising, the relentless necessity of opposition research, various methodologies of internal polling, strategic voting in a three way race where one candidate is largely written off, a presidential-style emphasis of personality over policy, corrupt patronage promises to win votes, and the influence of corporate money and lobbying (in the form of Luo Lei’s interfering parents) that only serves to reproduce systemic class inequalities already embedded in society in the political system.

Also reinforcing societal inequities: the vicious and organized intimidation Xu Xiaofei receives before she even begins to campaign, the way Cheng Cheng condescends to her in debate, and way her meaningless personal habits (eating slowly) are weaponized against her; in short, all of the barriers that face women who would participate in politics manifest here, and if this is how little girls with aspirations to leadership are treated, the lack of gender proportionality in government, both in China and throughout the world, comes as no surprise.

All of this taken together, and Luo Lei’s victory is not much of a surprise; the advantages of incumbency, his powerful backers, and a campaign of bribery and intimidation prove to be enough to for him to win in a landslide. As no less hallowed a democracy as the United States has shown, a democracy with a poisonous political culture is in no way immune to legitimizing a leader with violent and authoritarian impulses.