CPC practices active, full intra-party democracy to pick congress delegates

BEIJING - Lei Bicao was happy to find out that one of the candidates she had recommended was elected as a delegate for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Lei, who has been a Party member for 26 years in Linwei District in the city of Weinan in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, recalled clearly the recommendation process earlier this year.

"At a mobilization meeting, the secretary of our Party branch announced the qualifications and conditions for candidate nomination and the strict voting discipline then distributed a recommendation form to everyone who had the right to vote," Lei said.

The next day, Lei recommended four candidates, including Jia Xiangdong, deputy head of the district's Party organization department. Lei said she believed Jia to be an excellent candidate, capable of exercising the duties of delegates on behalf of ordinary Party members like her.

A total of 276 delegate candidates were initially recommended in the province. Officials accounted for 35 percent and Party members on the frontlines of work and production made up the remaining 65 percent.

The preliminary list of candidates was shortened to 60 after a comprehensive selection process by the CPC Shaanxi provincial committee to ensure broad coverage and proper structure of the candidates.

In May, Jia and 43 others were elected as delegates to the Party's national congress at a meeting of the 13th CPC Shaanxi provincial congress. Jia's name was on the list of 2,287 delegates elected to attend the five-yearly national congress on behalf of more than 89 million Party members and 4.5 million grassroots Party organizations. The congress is set to draw a new blueprint for the country's development.

"As a grassroots Party member, I feel it is my mission to recommend delegate candidates I trust," Lei said.