BEIJING - The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is being held in Beijing. Here are some basic facts about the CPC:

Q: How does the CPC elect its new Central Committee and how long can the Central Committee leadership stay?

A: According to the Party Constitution, the highest leading body of the Party is the National Congress and the Central Committee it elects, and all the constituent organizations and members of the Party are subordinate to the CPC National Congress and the Central Committee.

When the National Congress is not in session, the Central Committee carries out its resolutions, directs the entire work of the Party and represents the Communist Party of China in its external relations.

The CPC Central Committee is elected for a term of five years. However, when the next National Congress is convened before or after its normally scheduled date, the term shall be correspondingly shortened or extended.

The Party Constitution stipulates that members and alternate members of the Central Committee must have a Party standing of five years or more. The number of members and alternate members of the Central Committee shall be determined by the National Congress. Vacancies on the Central Committee shall be filled by its alternate members in the order of the number of votes by which they were elected.

According to the Party Constitution, the election shall be held by secret ballot.

Cai Mingzhao, spokesman for the 18th CPC National Congress, told a press conference in the run-up of the congress that the elections of members and alternate members of the Central Committee will proceed with the number of candidates nominated greater than the number of persons to be elected.

The competitive election procedure may be used directly in a formal election or this procedure may be used first in a preliminary election in order to draw up a list of candidates for the formal election. The voters have the right to inquire about the candidates, demand a change or reject one in favor of another. No organization or individual shall in any way compel voters to elect or not to elect any candidate, according to the Party Constitution.

Election methods of the 18th CPC National Congress, a result of deliberation by delegations, were approved at the second presidium meeting of the congress on Saturday afternoon.

A preliminary name-list of nominees for the candidates of members and alternate members of the 18th CPC Central Committee was proposed by the presidium meeting and would be submitted to delegations to the 18th CPC National Congress for elections.

The result of the preliminary elections will be pooled to the 247-member presidium to come up with a list of candidates for the formal election by secret ballots among the delegates attending the 18th CPC National Congress on Nov. 14. The result of the formal election will produce the new CPC Central Committee.

Five years ago, the 17th CPC National Congress elected 204 members and 167 alternate members of the Central Committee in a similar way.