Making the Right Choice

By Ma Xiaowen

Instead of working and living in a modern city， Yang Ning， who graduated from college in 2010， took a bold choice to return to her home village in Rongshui County， Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China.

The village， Jiangmen， was poverty stricken at the time， with few modern transportation facilities. Yang and fellow villagers established a business of rice and watermelon cultivation and had lifted the village out of poverty by 2020. Over the last two years， she has been aiming to use livestock breeding and processing to raise incomes.

Now the 30-something secretary of the village’s Party branch is trusted with a new position. She was elected as a delegate to the 20th Communist Party of China （CPC） National Congress.

At this moment， more CPC members like Yang are being elected to take part in the congress， which is scheduled to convene in the second half of 2022.

Starting from November 2021 and about to finish at the end of June 2022， the ongoing election of delegates is an example of the CPC upholding democracy within the Party and practicing democratic elections， which will lay a solid foundation for the congress.

The congress is a major event in China’s political life. It will review the work of the past five years， chart a course for the future， and elect a new central leadership. It will be an event of great political significance for both the Party and the country.

Electing the right delegates is never easy， especially for the CPC， the world’s largest ruling political party. Data from Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee show that the CPC had over 4.8 million Party organizations and over 95 million members as of June 5， 2021， approximately the population of Viet Nam and twice that of Spain.

The election procedure consists of five parts： the nomination of candidates by Party members； a nominee review； public notification of the candidates for feedback； candidate shortlists； and the final vote in each electoral unit. After all these steps， the elected delegates will be vetted by a qualification review committee before the national congress.

On April 17， a meeting of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC concluded with a 55-person list of candidates for the CPC National Congress delegates.

At a two-day CPC Guangxi Regional Congress， which closed on April 22， Yang was elected by secret ballot， along with 47 other delegates.

These include Xi Jinping， General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. As part of efforts to build stronger links between top Party leaders and regions across the country， Xi was nominated by the CPC Central Committee to join Guangxi as a candidate， and was unanimously elected.

The CPC Central Committee has clarified that the total number of delegates to the congress will be 2，300， the same as at the 19th CPC National Congress five years ago， according to a notice detailing the arrangements of the election issued in November 2021.

The delegates will be elected from 38 electoral units， including provincial-level regions， central authorities， the central financial sector， and Beijing-based centrally administered state-owned enterprises， according to the notice.

The seats in the congress are allocated mainly based on the number of Party organizations and Party members of each electoral unit. When it comes to the allocation of seats to different electoral units， the quotas for delegates to previous CPC national congresses are also taken into consideration.

Political standards are prioritized when selecting candidates. To ensure that high-caliber delegates are elected， the CPC Central Committee stated that the delegates should be exemplary members of the Party and they should meet certain criteria. The candidates’ commitment to ideals and convictions should be considered first， as well as their political character and moral traits， the notice said.

The CPC also seeks to improve the composition of delegates and ensure they come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds. The delegates will come from different sectors of society， different regions of the country， and various demographic and ethnic groups.

According to the notice， the delegates should include Party officials at each level and those from the frontline of production and work. Party members working on the frontline should have at least one third of the total seats， while those for officials will not exceed two thirds. Exemplary workers， farmers， and technicians will be priorities. Women and people from ethnic minority groups should all be well-represented.

Canvassing and buying votes are strictly prohibited and those who violate Party disciplinary rules and election protocols will not be tolerated. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee has emphasized the importance of discipline on multiple occasions. Party discipline inspection commissions， organization departments， and publicity departments nationwide have all geared up to ensure a clean election.

The election is esteemed as a political mission for Party organizations at all levels. Sticking to intra-Party democracy， Party organizations nationwide are working in accordance with the stipulated procedures and rules to elect the rightful delegates.

Liao Kui， an official with the Organization Department of the CPC Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee， said that when nominating candidates， progressiveness and wide representation are prioritized.

Liao said that Guangxi recommended candidates who are excellent workers doing hands-on work in poverty alleviation， environmental protection， prevention and control of COVID-19， and rural revitalization.

He noted that Party members who earned provincial and ministerial-level awards are preferred and whether a Party member is widely recognized by those around him or her is also important.

Statistics from local authorities show that the process has engaged 100 percent of Guangxi’s primary-level Party organizations and 99.15 percent of Party members. Among the 55 candidates， Party members working on the frontline accounted for more than 70 percent.

Qualified delegates must be clean and honest. Those with misconduct are banned from nomination. In Guizhou Province， a negative list was established to disqualify those who violate political discipline and rules for nomination.

“The negative list serves to move the examining procedure ahead of the election process，”officials from the Organization Department of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee told People’s Daily.

For different electoral units， there are specific requirements. In Tibet Autonomous Region， nominees must have a strong sense of identity with the Chinese nation and take a firm stand against separatism. In Yunnan Province， a province home to many ethnic minority groups， delegate seats must be equitably distributed.

A successful election requires mass participation. Party organizations are extensively mobilized to take part in the nomination of candidates. The Party authorities in Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces， among others， arranged ways for retired Party members， Party members who are advanced in age and poor in health， and Party members in the newly emerged sectors such as couriers and online car-hailing services to take part in the nomination process. In Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， a vast territory with a sparse population， mobile Party schools were set up to educate members on the election policy. BR