President Hu Jintao (4th from left), general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and other top Party leaders attend the third presidium meeting of the 17th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People October 20, 2007. The meeting adopted the draft lists of candidates for the Central Committee and Central Discipline Commission of the Communist Party of China. [Xinhua]

BEIJING -- At least eight percent of nominees have been eliminated in the primary elections of members and alternate members of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xinhua has learnt.

The margins are bigger than those at the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002, indicating a sign of progress of intra-Party democracy. It was the fifth time that competitive election was used at the CPC congresses.

"Although the percentage of those eliminated is only some three points more than that in the 16th congress, it is a democratic step that would push forward socialist democracy with momentum and exemplary effect," said Professor Cai Changshui with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Hu Jintao said Monday in a keynote report at the opening of the congress: "Intra-Party democracy provides an important guarantee for improving the Party's creativity and reinforcing its solidarity and unity. We will expand intra-Party democracy to develop people's democracy and increase intra-Party harmony to promote social harmony."

More than 2,200 Party delegates selected the candidates for members and alternate members of the Party's central committee and members of the central discipline commission on Friday and Saturday through a closed-door multi-candidate vote.

The candidates are waiting for a formal vote on Sunday at the concluding session of the 17th CPC National Congress.

The list and numbers of the chosen candidates are not known, but they will have a high chance to be elected, as was the case at previous Party congresses.

At the 16th CPC congress, ten nominees lost in the primary vote for candidates of central committee members, marking a 5.1 percent. Another seven people, or 5.8 percent of the nominees, lost in the vote for candidates of members of the central discipline commission. Nine people, or 5.7 percent, were eliminated in the primary election of alternate members of the central committee.

"Only in competitive election can voters have choices. The increased margins between nominees and chosen candidates show that Chinese democracy has moved a big step forward," said Wang Guixiu, an expert on political reform with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Competitive elections were first introduced to the 13th Party congress in November 1987, at which the nominees eliminated at the primary elections for members and alternate members of the central committee and members of the central discipline commission numbered 10, 16 and four respectively.

After that competitive election was written into the Party's Constitution to improve "intra-Party democracy."

"Improving intra-Party democracy is the fundamental approach to promoting democratic governance and making the people really become masters of the country," said Tian Peiyan, a senior theorist with the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee.

Intra-Party democracy is largely realized by the expansion of Party members' rights, more open elections and a fair official nomination mechanism, Tian said.

As another remarkable signal, the loss margins in electing delegates to the 17th CPC congress were raised to 15 percent or above nationwide, five percentage points higher than five years ago.

Noticeably, the margins in choosing delegates to provincial Party congresses now range from 15 percent to 30 percent in different regions.

"The CPC is the ruling party of China. If there is no intra- Party democracy, democracy at the current stage in China is nothing," said Yu Keping, deputy chief of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau.

Yu praised democracy as "the least defective" among all political institutions created and adopted by human beings in a popular article queerly titled "Democracy Is A Lovely Thing", which was published early this year in the Study Times.

The number of CPC members has been growing by 2.2 million annually in the past decade, and the total figure now stands at more than 73 million.

Hu Jintao said Monday: "We need to respect the principal position of Party members, guarantee their democratic rights, increase transparency in Party affairs and create favorable conditions for democratic discussions within the Party."