Unprecedentedly, the number of candidates was 15 percent more than the actual delegates to the Party congress. At the previous national congress five years ago, the loss margin of election of delegates was ten percent.
Even bolder steps were strode in the election of grassroots CPC organizations. The CPC has decided to experiment with direct elections of Party chiefs in more than 200 townships in Chongqing, Sichuan and Hubei.
Chen Guohua, a beneficiary of the political tryout who occupies the post of Party chief of Chongqing's Longxing Township, said Party members in his electorate fervently welcome the initiative of the Party central leadership. They particularly cherish the right they are entitled to review Chen's work every year. One- third of non-confidence votes from the total 900 Party members in Longxing may immediately affect his job.
On enhancing intra-Party democracy, Hu Jintao called on the whole Party to "take the lead in upholding the authority of the Constitution and the law," citing that the system for nominating candidates and electoral methods should be improved.
The Party will strictly implement democratic centralism, improve the system that combines collective leadership with division of responsibilities among individuals. Hu said the Party will establish a sound system under which the Political Bureau of the Central Committee regularly reports its work to plenary sessions of the Central Committee and accepts their oversight, and the standing committees of local Party committees at all levels do likewise to plenary sessions of local Party committees and accept their oversight.
At the fourth plenary session of the 16th CPC Central Committee, the Central Committee decided to scatter documents of the Central Committee to all delegates to the 16th CPC National Congress, collecting their advice for improving work of the Central Committee.
Improving intra-Party democracy is the ultimate approach to developing people's democracy and promoting social harmony, said Tian Peiyan, a senior theorist at the CPC Central Committee's Policy Research Office.
Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the framework of intra- Party democracy has been roughly institutionalized, Tian said, adding that under the framework, democratic election, decision- making, governance and supervision should be sped up.
"As an important part of China's overall reform, political restructuring must be constantly deepened along with economic and social development to adapt to the growing enthusiasm of the people for participation in political affairs," Hu said.
