CHINA-INTERNAL: CCP'S INNER PARTY ELECTIONS

An interesting Xinhua article on October 26, 2017, stated that Xi Jinping was re-elected General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee by a unanimous vote at the first plenum of the new Central Committee that was elected at the party's twice-a-decade national congress. It said the plenum also elected the members of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee. Indicating the absence of elections for these bodies it said "Based on the nomination of the Political Bureau Standing Committee, it endorsed members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and decided on members of the CPC Central Military Commission". Clarifying the 'procedures and criteria', Xinhua said Xi Jinping had begun seeking advise from early 2017, from other members of the Politburo Standing Committee on how to deliberate and determine candidates for a new central leadership. On April 24, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau held a special meeting which was presided over by Xi and adopted a plan on the recommendation of candidates for the central leadership. It determined that "candidates should have firm faith and be loyal" to the CCP and keep a "high degree of conformity with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi at the core." It said "they should have outstanding leadership abilities, be a veteran in practice with the determination to push forward reforms and innovation, take a lead in implementing democratic centralism, and be an impartial and upright person with a communist outlook on the world, life and values". instead of the voting system at the 17th and 18th Congresses where it said "some voters at the conference voted recklessly or for people with whom they had connections", this time "the new mechanism included a series of arrangements from one-on-one talks, consultations, deliberations and meetings". Xinhua said "From April to June, Xi personally talked to 57 senior leaders and retired leaders to seek their suggestions" and "other senior leaders also did one-on-one sessions with 290 ministerial cadres and senior military officers". Based on the suggestions, the Politburo Standing Committee made a proposal on membership of the new central authority on September 25.  The Political Bureau approved the proposal on September 29 and decided to submit it to the first plenary sessions of the 19th CCP Central Committee and the 19th CDIC. An interesting disclosure was that "during the one-on-one sessions, several senior leaders voluntarily offered not to seek reappointment to make room for younger comrades". Xinhua described the new procedure as marking "a new beginning" and fully demonstrating "the contemporary morale" of the CCP.





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