The election of more than 2,000 delegates to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has completed and the name list of those elected been released in press media in compliance with the unified arrangements of the CPC Central Committee. On this event, a leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee has had an exclusive interview with PD reporters. Its main contents are as follows:
The work of electing delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress commenced in October 2006 and ended up successfully in June this year, according to the leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. A total of 2,217 delegates have been elected to the upcoming 17th National Congress from 38 electoral units nationwide in a matter of nine months.
The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the election of delegates for the upcoming national congress. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made important instructions with regard to the work, and the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its Standing Committee called the respective meetings for special researches and to define the guiding ideology, principle and policy specifications concerning the election of CPC delegates. By drawing on the experience of recent CPC national congresses and that of the 16th held in 2002 in particular, a serial vital measures have been adopted to keep up with the time and make reform and innovations, further extending inner-Party democracy, improving the delegates' structure and election procedures, setting forth rigid qualifications on CPC delegates and raising their competency. Overall, the delegates elected in various units are the fine, outstanding elements among the CPC members, who are sound politically and ideologically with fine styles of ideology, work and life, and have made eminent achievements in both production and work with fairly strong capacities of resolving official, administrative matters.
There has been an increase in the ratio of delegates from grassroots, women delegates and delegates among middle-aged and young people.
While giving close attention to the adherence to the advanced character of the Party members during the course of election, Party organizations at all levels have given special heed to a wide representation with a relatively rational mix of delegates elected and a composition of all components compliant with requirements set by the Party Central Committee. So there are ensuing hallmarks:
First, a rise in the proportion of Party members in production and work frontlines. Among all the delegates to the congress, 28.4 percent are grass-root CPC members from all walks of life and the ratio of the delegates elected at the grass-root level from the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China and the central enterprise system (in Beijing) exceeded 30 percent, a somewhat bigger increase in the ratio of CPC delegates at grassroots at the time of the 16th National Party Congress.
Second, a fairly balanced distribution with a representation of all sectors. Delegates to 17th CPC National Congress come from all trades and professions in economy, science and technology, national defense, politics and laws, education, media publicity, culture, health work, physical culture and sports fields, involving workers, farmers, servicemen, professionals and government functionaries, and also representatives of Party members in new economic and social organizations.
Third, a marked rise in the ratio of women delegates. Among the elected delegates, there were 445 women, 63 more than at the 16th CPC National Congress, accounting for 20.1 percent, or 0.4 percentage points higher than the ratio of women Party membership nationwide.
Fourth, a rise in the ratio of delegates of ethnical minorities. Among the finally elected delegates, there were 242 people of ethnic groups, 12 people more than at the 16th National Congress, making up 10.9 percent. Of the 55 minority ethnicities, 42 ethnic groups have their own delegates.
Fifth, an increase in the number of delegates of the middle-age people and youths. Among the finally elected delegates, there are 1,561 delegates under age 55, comprising 70.4 percent, 7.2 percent higher than the ratio of those attending the 16th National Congress; 416 delegates are under age 45, or 0.8 percent higher than the proportion of the delegates of the same age group at the 16th National Congress.
Sixth, a higher level of education. Among the delegates, there are 2,068 delegates of at or above the junior education level, making up 93.3 percent of the proportion of delegates, or 1.6 percentage points higher than the ratio of the delegates of the same age group at the previous national congress.
Meanwhile, the election of all delegates has conformed to the set procedures and steps about the election of CPC delegates, noted the leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. To be specific:
-- They have all been nominated by the grass-root Party organizations and Party members via recommendations and defined as delegate candidates with the agreement of most Party organizations and most CPC members.
-- They have gone through assiduous, conscientious tests by Party organizations, hearings of opinions about them by Party organizations and CPC members in the units they belong to, and hearings of views of Party discipline inspection and supervision organs to which their units are subjected.
-- They have been elected by Party congresses or CPC representatives meetings in their electoral units.
Moreover, the elected delegates who have been promulgated have to be submitted to the 17th Delegate Status Inspection Committee for examination before they are qualified to attend the 17th National Congress. And in accordance with conventional practices, the CPC Central Committee will also define of select some veteran Party members who have quit their leading posts to attend the upcoming Party congress as specially-invited delegates.
The work of electing delegates to the upcoming Congress has been a successful practice of carrying forward the inner-Party democracy and following the mass line, said the leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.
First, a differentiate rate usually of over 15 percent was evoked at various electoral units when they call elections at their Party congresses or Party representative meetings, a five percent rise over the differentiate rate at various electroal units set for the 16th National Party Congress, and thus enlarged the scope of choice for delegates.
Second, with regard to recommendation of candidates reported by the county (or city at the county level) and the city (or the prefecture), the past practice of collective discussions by the standing committee of the county or city Party committee has been shifted to nominations by Party standing committees and the subsequent decisions through the mulling of the full Party standing committees.
Third, elementary delegate candidates of electoral units will be notified in an appropriate way within the scope of their electoral units, so as to draw on opinions of CPC members and people in a more extensive way and accept their supervision.
Fourth, before the defining of probationary delegae candidates, the full-member Party committees of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions will generally inform personages of various non-Communist parties, associations of industry and commerce and personalities without party affiliation at the provincial level on the choice of candidates and solicit their opinions.
By People's Daily Online |
