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Xinhua Insight: Primary elections of CPC national congress delegates proceeding smoothly

Xinhua, April 6, 2017 Adjust font size:

The nomination of candidates who will be considered to stand in the election of delegates to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is proceeding in a "smooth and orderly way," the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee announced Thursday.

The 19th CPC National Congress, a major event in the political life of the Party and the state, will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2017. A total of 2,300 delegates will be elected by 40 electoral units from across the country.

Candidates must exhibit the beliefs, political integrity and moral qualities expected in upstanding Party members, according to the department.

The election, which will be completed by June, follows five procedures -- the nomination of candidates by Party members; nominee review; public notification of the candidates for feedback; candidate short list; and the final vote.

The nomination of candidates is one way in which Party members exercise their democratic rights and participate in intra-Party political life.

At the nomination stage, group discussions are an integral part of the nomination process.

Liang Shaohua, a migrant worker from Xinyi, Guangdong Province, returned to his hometown to be involved in the local Party committee candidate nomination process.

"As a Party member, I need to be present for important occasions, like this, no matter how far away or busy I am," Liang said. "I came to cast my vote and recommend the most suitable Party members from our organization."

The 2,300 elected delegates will represent more than 88 million CPC members and 4.4 million Party organizations.

This year, more workers, farmers and professionals will be nominated.

These "front-line workers" should account for no less than one third of the delegates representing provincial level regions, the central financial sector and Beijing-based centrally-administered enterprises, up 1.33, 13.3 and 1.33 percentage points respectively, compared to the 18th CPC National Congress.

Local election units have rolled out measures to increase the number of front-line delegates, taking into consideration different industries and regions.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province has 25 ethnic minority groups that have a population of more than 6,000.

Li Jiansong, an official with the CPC Yunnan provincial committee, told Xinhua: "Half of the province's 54 candidates identify as ethnic minorities, almost one from each of our 25 ethnic minority groups."

The CPC said intra-Party democracy will ensure the results fully reflect the will of all cadres.

Party committees at various levels have held meetings to recommend candidates and the initial nominee lists have been reviewed to solicit opinions.

"The election of nominees has been strict and prudent," said Fang Jianhua, a CPC member in a village in Jiangxi Province. "The process starts from the lowest level and takes full consideration of the situation at the coal face. I believe the elected delegates will be worthy of our trust."

The election features a strong emphasis on discipline and rules, with all electoral units pledging zero tolerance to fraud.

During the recommendation and nomination of delegates, Party organizations in Liaoning Province held 44,000 courses on election laws and Party code of conduct, which were available to its nearly 1.2 million CPC members.

Officials in the province had to learn a hard lesson from a huge election fraud case exposed last year, which saw 45 National People's Congress deputies, the country's top legislature, disqualified for bribing voters in 2013. The province elected 40 new national lawmakers early this year.

Discipline and organizational departments in Hunan Province have also enhanced supervision to prevent fraud, after 56 provincial legislators in Hengyang City were found guilty of offering bribes to municipal lawmakers in 2013. Tong Mingqian, a former senior official of the province, was sentenced to five years in prison for neglect of duty.

The CPC has vowed to punish any violations of laws and regulations including vote-buying and bribery. Endi