Competitive elections of delegates introduced for this coming national congress will help promote intra-Party democracy.
In a highly conspicuous event coming before the start of 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 2,270 delegates have been elected to represent the 80 million members of the Party at the approaching meeting, which is to be held in the latter half of this year.
According to the Party Constitution, the national congress is the most powerful organ in the CPC with the duties of choosing Party lines, principles, policies and theories, as well as electing leaders. As part of the country's work to build a well-off society in an all-round way, deepen the reform and opening-up of the country's economy and transform its model of economic development, the upcoming 18th National Congress of the CPC is expected to release important policies and measures that will guide the country's development in the next five years.
The quality of a national Party congress is directly related to the manner in which the delegates to it are chosen. According to Wang Jingqing, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, all of the delegates were elected in accordance with institutionalized, standardized and procedural requirements and intra-Party democracy has been given full play in the process. Elaborating on Wednesday on the delegates' elections, Wang said the CPC's priorities are finding ways to promote intra-Party democracy while keeping a close eye on the quality of elected delegates, tilting in favor of grassroots Party members and ensuring there is stronger disciplinary monitoring of the ways in which delegates are elected.
As a concrete step toward promoting democracy, competitive elections were adopted as the means of choosing delegates to the 18th national congress. Data indicate that more than 15 percent of delegates who are going to this congress were chosen in such a way. That is more than at the 16th national congress of the CPC, when more than 10 percent of the delegates had to be picked through competitive nominations, and the 17th congress, when more than 15 percent had to be.
