How Chinese leaders are elected to Party congress

Xi Jinping and other 47 leaders of Communist Party of China (CPC) membership have been elected delegates to the Party’s 19th National Congress that is to open on Oct. 18.

Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was elected delegate by a unanimous vote at the 12th CPC Guizhou provincial congress in April.

The announcement of Xi’s election by more than 730 provincial congress delegates won long and warm applause.

Other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, were elected delegates in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province, Hunan Province and Shaanxi Province, respectively.

They were all nominated by the CPC Central Committee as candidates for delegates.

These places are either major battlefield of poverty alleviation, important points on the “Belt and Road” or ethnic minority regions.

The choice of places or electoral units where Party and state leaders participate in elections should strengthen Party governance, assist in implementing national development strategies and allow the voices of grassroots Party members and the people to be heard.

Party and state leaders did not participate in elections in places such as their native homes or where they have worked, except for that they hold concurrent posts as Party secretaries of electoral units. Leaders from ethnic minority regions can participate in autonomous regions, according to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The fact that Party and state leaders, especially members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, participate in elections in underdeveloped provinces and regions densely populated by ethnic minorities sets an example in the implementation of the Party and state’s major development strategies, said Professor Zhu Lingjun with CPC Central Committee Party School.

The leaders are the “key few” of the Party’s “key few.” The arrangement is important to forming a sound political atmosphere and motivating cadres and citizens, said Professor Wang Yukai, with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

“We will try to translate General Secretary Xi’s concerns and the CPC Central Committee’s poverty eradication policies into better lives which the people can see and enjoy,” said Yang Bo, a provincial delegate and a village official in Guizhou, adding that he is confident of leading his village out of poverty.

The election of the 48 leaders shows the people’s support for the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, recognition for the leadership’s capability and shared aspirations for the future of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

A total of 2,287 delegates have been elected to attend the five-yearly national congress on behalf of more than 89 million Party members and 4.5 million grassroots Party organizations.

Delegates will decide on a new blueprint for development. They will also elect a new central committee and a new anti-graft body.