Delegates election shows CPC's vitality, democracy

On Monday, the Communist Party of China (CPC) published a list of newly elected delegates to attend its upcoming National Congress, which convenes once every five years.

After a subsequent qualification check, those 2,270 representatives are expected to deliberate and decide vital issues on the party and the country on behalf of some 82 million party members and the entire Chinese population.

The selection and election process served as a vivid application of the CPC's principle of democratic centralism and demonstrated its vigorous vitality.

A POLITICAL TASK OF VITAL IMPORTANCE

Last October, the 17th Central Committee of the CPC decided at its sixth plenary session that the Party's 18th National Congress would be held in Beijing in the second half of 2012.

It was widely believed that the 18th National Congress, held at a critical period of the country's reform and development, would have profound influence on the party's role in leading the country, by having a clear understanding of the situation, and reaching a consensus.

Thus, the selection and election of delegates served as groundwork for a successful session.

The CPC Central Committee attached great importance to the process, with general secretary Hu Jintao giving instructions on several occasions.

Actually, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its Standing Committee had discussed the selection last August and clarified the guidelines and policies to be used.

Measures also taken by central authorities to enhance democracy, and the transparency and supervision of the process, while optimizing the structures of the politically reliable delegates, included drawing experiences from the previous selection and election five years ago and making institutional innovations.

Before the selection, the CPC Central Committee decided that a total of 2,270 delegates should be elected by 40 electoral units across the country.

A standard for candidates was also highlighted, clarifying that they should be elite party members with a firm political stand, virtue, fine working style, excellent achievements and comparatively strong capability in fulfilling the duties of a party delegate.

The CPC Central Committee also decided that the number of candidates should be at least 15 percent more than that of the delegates, while the ratio of delegates from the grass-roots level, especially workers, should be increased.

To carry out the plan, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee offered dedicated training for the election work, distributed flow charts of the selection and supervision procedures.

INTRA-PARTY DEMOCRACY

To ensure the election of more outstanding delegates and each Party member having access to election information, the CPC has taken various measures to give full play to intra-party democracy through the 10-month-long process of the election.

For a poll held at Woniu village, Xuzhou city of east China's Jiangsu Province in January, 70-year-old Feng Changxi came in his wheelchair to choose a delegate to the CPC's 18th National Congress.

"The election is a very important issue," Feng said. "Today, I am bound to come here to vote for the best delegate for the Party."

Liu Xiaonan, a teacher with Peking University, received an E-mail from the university's Party committee which asked her to nominate a delegate candidate when she was studying abroad.

"Although overseas, I felt I was always together with the organization as a Party member," Liu replied.

According to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, up to 98 percent of Party members participated in the election of delegates to the congress.

The CPC, for the first time, carried out a multi-candidate survey on the preliminary candidates of the delegates to the upcoming Party congress.

The loss margins in electing delegates to the congress were raised to 15 percent or above nationwide, according to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Many local Party committees, for the first time, publicized the list of delegates' names via media channels, in a bid to mobilize the participation of, and solicit feedback from, Party members in the election.

Hubei Daily published a list of 72 preliminary candidates of the delegates and their basic information on Feb. 20, an effort by the province's Party committee to win more public supervision for the election.

DIVERSITY, MORE GRASS-ROOTS DELEGATES

With a wide span both of ages and occupation, the makeup of delegates to the 18th National Congress of the CPC is appropriate and all ratios set by the CPC Central Committee to realize full representativeness have been fulfilled.

Among the 2,270 delegates, the youngest is Jiao Liuyang, a 21-year-old swimming gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Delegates also come from business, technology, education circles and the country's armed forces.

About 30.5 percent of the elected delegates are from the grass-roots level, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous congress in 2007, while 69.5 percent are officials at all levels, down 2.1 percentage points from the previous congress.

Among all the delegates, the number of workers saw the sharpest increase, from 51 in the 17th congress to the current 169, including 26 migrant workers.

"After being elected as a delegate, I will lead other workmates to work harder so as to build a better image of worker Party members," said Pi Jinjun, a migrant worker who serves as a stevedore at Qingdao Port in east China's Shandong Province.

A total of 1,640 delegates joined the CPC after November 1976, accounting for 72.2 percent of the total, 20.5 percentage points higher than that of the congress in 2007, according to Wang Jingqing, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

"The CPC's cause has been passed from the older generation to the younger generation and maintained its dynamics," Wang said.