Residents at the Jincheng community in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern Sichuan Province, could not hide their joy at the release of the delegates list for the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The candidate they had proposed - policewoman Tang Min - had been included.

Tang has worked in the community for more than 10 years. She is always available for all the residents with her mobile phone number on everyone's contact list.

Tang helps laid-off workers find new jobs, elderly people rent apartments and quarreling families get back to normal. Local people call her "sister" or "daughter".

"We're happy from the bottom of our hearts that she has been elected a delegate," said local resident and Party member Ren Jinbao.

Among the 2,213 deputies to the Party congress, which commences today in Beijing, about 630, or 28 percent, are grassroots role models like Tang. They come from all walks of life, including farmers, workers, teachers, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs.

The proportions of such grassroots delegates at the previous three Party congresses were 22 percent, 24.1 percent and 24.3 percent respectively.

The Party is also insisting on greater participation by women and ethnic minorities, as well as private sector businesspeople.

Figures from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee show that female delegates and ethnic minority delegates account for 20.1 percent and 11 percent of the total, both higher than those at the last congress.

There are also some 20 private entrepreneurs among the delegates, compared with the seven attending the 16th Congress when the Party opened its doors to people from the private sector.

The delegates are younger as well. Figures show that more than 70 percent of them are under 55, up 7.2 percent over the previous congress. Meanwhile, 94 percent have college degrees, an increase of 2 percent compared with five years ago.

"The growing number of delegates working in the frontlines of our communities, as well as in new sectors, shows that the Party represents a wider variety of people now," said Gao Xinmin, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of CPC.

Gao said the wider representation would help the Party consolidate governance. "Delegates from the grassroots level know more about social problems. Their participation will ensure Party decisions become more people-oriented," he said.

The election of delegates started last October and was finished at the end of June. Across the country, 38 Party organs elected more than 2,200 delegates from about 70 million Party members.

According to election rules, each delegate has to be recommended by the local Party standing committee, assessed by local disciplinary and supervisory bodies and endorsed by all Party members in their city or institution, instead of just needing the approval of standing committee members, as was the case five years ago.

Remember to vote

Every possible means had been used to ensure maximum participation in the election.

Liu Youguo, a sailor in Putuo District in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang Province, said he heard about the election through interphone announcements on his boat. "I didn't miss the election even when I was out fishing," he said with a laugh.

Phone calls, mails, e-mails, faxes, personal visits all these are used to inform those away from home. In regions where ethnic minorities are concentrated, the local Party committees translate election notices into the local language so everyone can understand.

Tang Jianbo, a migrant worker from Kaifeng in Central China's Henan Province, got the election notice online. When he sent back an e-mail to propose a candidate, he also wrote: "I'm honored to exercise my political right to participate in the election."

Official figures show that more than 98 percent of Party members across the country participated in the election of delegates to the 17th Congress, higher than at the last congress five years ago.

In an effort to promote a kind of intra-Party democracy, the CPC central committee has also ordered that the number of candidates be 15 percent higher than the number of delegates, an increase of 5 percentage points over the 16th Congress.

It's also the first time that the complete list of the delegates was made public ahead of the Party Congress.

Intra-Party democracy

Wan Jun, another professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said all these new measures in the election are based on the concept of intra-Party democracy, and growing transparency has facilitated public supervision.

He said widening the competition for delegates is a marked departure from past practices, when non-competitive elections were the norm. "I believe it (wider competition) will go a long way to improve the Party's decision-making processes because they involve a selection procedure."

Intra-Party democracy refers to efforts to promote internal transparency and consultation in policy making, strengthen internal supervision and introduce more competition inside the Party.

Fang Ning, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Political Science, said intra-Party democracy would be a main theme of the coming Party congress.

In his recently published book Ten Questions on Democracy, Fang envisions the political reform program after the congress adhering to three principles: upholding the Communist leadership and increasing political participation and public supervision.

The idea of intra-Party democracy was first raised five years ago when the 16th Party Congress agreed that: "Party democracy is the life of the Party".

The CPC Central Committee endorsed an intra-Party democratic reform program at a 2005 plenum, saying it was significant to push ahead with reform of the country's political system.

More democratic methods have been used in reshuffling provincial Party leaders in the past year, including large-scale consultations and assessments among Party members on candidates for top positions.

It is widely believed that intra-Party democracy will be deepened at the gathering and bolder Party reforms might be endorsed for the next five years.

(China Daily October 15, 2007)