More representative delegates

Competitive elections of delegates introduced for this coming national congress will help promote intra-Party democracy

In a highly conspicuous event coming before the start of 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 2,270 delegates have been elected to represent the 80 million members of the Party at the approaching meeting, which is to be held in the latter half of this year.

According to the Party Constitution, the national congress is the most powerful organ in the CPC with the duties of choosing Party lines, principles, policies and theories, as well as electing leaders. As part of the country's work to build a well-off society in an all-round way, deepen the reform and opening-up of the country's economy and transform its model of economic development, the upcoming 18th National Congress of the CPC is expected to release important policies and measures that will guide the country's development in the next five years.

The quality of a national Party congress is directly related to the manner in which the delegates to it are chosen. According to Wang Jingqing, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, all of the delegates were elected in accordance with institutionalized, standardized and procedural requirements and intra-Party democracy has been given full play in the process. Elaborating on Wednesday on the delegates' elections, Wang said the CPC's priorities are finding ways to promote intra-Party democracy while keeping a close eye on the quality of elected delegates, tilting in favor of grassroots Party members and ensuring there is stronger disciplinary monitoring of the ways in which delegates are elected.

As a concrete step toward promoting democracy, competitive elections were adopted as the means of choosing delegates to the 18th national congress. Data indicate that more than 15 percent of delegates who are going to this congress were chosen in such a way. That is more than at the 16th national congress of the CPC, when more than 10 percent of the delegates had to be picked through competitive nominations, and the 17th congress, when more than 15 percent had to be.

The expanded use of competitive elections will help to ensure that Party members have a leading role and that their democratic rights are guaranteed.

For ordinary Party members, electoral rights remain their most important democratic rights. The best way to protect those rights is to carry out elections in a competitive manner, rather than one that only puts forward single candidates. Contrary to elections in which there is a single candidate, competitive elections offer voters more choices.

The election of delegates to the Party's 18th national congress is aimed at finding Party members who are capable of handling Party affairs and giving them a platform from which to discuss Party policies and measures. Compared with single-candidate elections, competitive elections will also ensure Party members have more leeway to choose preferred delegates, thus demonstrating a greater regard for public opinion and marking progress in intra-Party democracy.

Of the newly elected delegates, those who are from the grassroots level and represent workers constitute a greater percentage of the total than in previous congresses, while the proportion of officials has decreased. Statistics shows that grassroots Party members make up 30.5 percent of all the elected delegates to the 18th National Congress of the CPC, 2.1 percentage points higher than in the 17th congress. And the number of worker delegates has increased to 169 from 51. The greater proportion of grassroots Party members will make the approaching 18th National Congress of the CPC more representative and more democratic, a tendency that accords well with the original principle of the Party's national congressional system.

The election, with its strong showing by grassroots representatives, is also an indication of the Party's desire to give more ordinary Party members a say in Party affairs. It marks a step forward for intra-Party democracy.

Meanwhile, to provide more transparency and eradicate any underground operations that may exist, the CPC has decided to release a list of delegates who were elected to its 18th national congress. Unlike in previous congresses, during which such a list was only circulated among those in the Party, the list for the 18th national congress is appearing on social media.

Past experience shows no democracy can be real unless it is a procedural democracy. The CPC attaches great importance to the election of delegates to its approaching 18th national congress and is hoping that the event will become an important practice and prove a new step toward boosting intra-Party democracy.

The question of how to best guarantee the democratic rights of Party members and exercise monitoring over decision-making in intra-Party affairs has always been a particularly important one in the work to boost intra-Party democracy. Since the 16th National Congress of the CPC, the Party has endlessly searched for better ways to select congressional delegates, promote officials and make Party affairs more open, as well as to promote intra-Party decision-making and intra-Party supervision.

That the CPC has decided to adopt the principle of competitive elections for its 18th national congress, the first time that has been done in the history of the national congress, shows that it is making renewed efforts to transform itself into a more democratic and open party.

The author is a senior editor with the Study Times.