More than 2,200 party delegates began scrutinizing a list of nominees yesterday before making their choice on who would enter the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The list, endorsed by the 237-member presidium of the congress on Wednesday, was prepared by a special working group under the Political Bureau of the 16th CPC Central Committee, spokesman of the congress Li Dongsheng has said.

Those on the list have the chance of becoming candidates for membership and alternate members of the central committee, and members of the central discipline commission.

The five-yearly congress will first hold a primary election before a final ballot, a practice maintained since the 13th party congress in 1987.

The personnel reshuffle is one of the most important agenda items of party congresses. The constitution of the CPC rules that all elections should be carried out through a secret ballot.

The CPC adopted a primary election system at its 8th national party congress in 1956. Then at the 13th national congress in 1987, it began to follow a differential voting system at the primary election, hailed as a major step in intra-Party democracy.

At that congress, five percent of nominees lost in the primary election for the central committee, and 12 percent of nominees lost in the election for candidates of alternate members.

The margins of elimination in the vote of the 14th and 15th national congresses were not released. The 16th party congress, however, recorded a margin of elimination of a little more than 5 percent.

At the 16th Party congress in 2002, members of the Central Committee were elected with a 5.1 percent margin, and alternate members of the committee at 5.7 percent.

Seven people lost in the primary vote for membership of the Central Discipline Commission, a 5.8 percent margin.

There has been speculation that the margin this time might be higher as General Secretary Hu Jintao said in his report to the congress that the Party should "expand intra-Party democracy".

"We will reform the intra-Party electoral system and improve the system for nominating candidates and electoral methods," he said in the report.

In choosing delegates prior to the congress, all 38 constituencies adopted a 15 percent margin in the elections, 5 percentage points higher than that in 2002.

Xinhua

(China Daily 10/19/2007 page5)