How Delegates Are Elected to CPC's 18th National Congress

The public notification of the candidates

The candidates need to pass the public notification stage in order to get final approval.

For the first time, the preliminary candidates' lists of the delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress were formally opened at candidates' electoral units.

In addition, to encourage more Party members to participate and offer feedback for the election, the CPC required that the names of delegates to the 18th CPC National Congress be released to the public nationwide, both in print and on broadcast media. However, not all electoral units will act according to the requirement. The list of delegates from the Ministry of State Security doesn't need to be opened.

During the elections, besides conventional media, the Internet and mobile phones played a greater role in informing CPC members of all election news.

The current senior leaders were elected from different electoral units. For example, Vice President Xi Jinping was among 73 delegates elected to represent Shanghai's Party members. The members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee will be elected from the candidates directly nominated by the CPC central committee.

The multi-candidate election

It is required that candidates outnumber the elected delegates by "at least 15 percent". The rule last time was "no less than 15 percent", an increase in the 10 percent difference required in elections prior to 2007.

By emphasizing morality and Party spirit, various electoral units recommended the most advanced Party members as the candidates. For the first time, a multi-candidate survey was conducted for the preliminary candidates of the delegates to the 18th National Party Congress in order to increase candidates' recognition among the Party members and the masses. Candidates who did not meet the requirements were replaced.

There are a number of controversial figures among the replaced candidates, including Liu Chuanzhi, who recently resigned as president of the Legend Group, and An Lusheng, the Director of Shanghai Railways Bureau who proved a divisive choice after his election as a delegate candidate due to the fact that he was in charge during last year's high-speed train collision that left 40 people dead and 172 injured.