CPC develops democracy over last decade

BEIJING - Shi Lei is a promising member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), as he is a graduate of one of the most prestigious universities in China and works at the community level as a village official.

However, Shi experienced many challenges while becoming one of the 2,270 deputies to the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which is scheduled to start on Nov 8.

The 24-year-old Shi is the CPC secretary of the village of Xihua in the city of Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province. Due to his contributions to the development of the village, Shi was nominated by party members in the village to be a deputy to the CPC congress.

The procedure was quite long and complicated, including the publicization of the candidates and several rounds of elections. It was not an easy task, as Shi faced a multiple-candidate election.

But Shi was finally selected to be one of 70 deputies from the province. As an official from the lowest level, Shi will attend the congress along with the party chief of his province and other top leaders.

Public recommendations and the publicization of candidates have demonstrated that the elections are an important practice for democracy and a representation of China's achievements in building a democratic country since the 1970s, especially in the last 10 years.

The CPC attaches great importance to democracy. In his report on the Party's 17th National Congress, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of China Hu Jintao said the people's democracy is the lifeblood of socialism and developing the people's democracy is the CPC's consistent goal.

Therefore, democracy with Chinese characteristics is improving, both inside and outside the CPC.

Democratic procedures and publicization of the elections for the CPC congress are the result of a series of policies made by top leaders.

During the fourth plenary session of its 16th Central Committee, the CPC promised to improve its intra-party election system and expand the margin ratio for the elections.

In the report on the 17th National Congress in 2007, the CPC vowed to expand participation in the nomination of candidates for elections in community-level CPC organizations.

In Shi's opinion, the election procedures were carried out strictly in line with the policies, with transparent procedures ensuring the quality of the candidates.

Most viewed commentaries
China is no military threat despite commissioning of aircraft carrier	Overseas Chinese's participation in politics becomes irresistible trend	China’s path to democracy
Will U.S. security defense deployment make Asia safe?	Why the 18th CPC National Congress attracts global attention	Cancellation of Japan-U.S. joint drill does not mean showing weakness