(Ecns.cn)--The Communist Party of China (CPC) has paid vigorous attention to inner-Party democracy in recent years, making progress step by step.
In 2001, 41-year-old Zheng Kaiping was transferred to a post on the Pingchang County Standing Committee after failing to win an election for deputy secretary of the Nanjiang County Committee. The election employed a new method, in which leading cadre candidates were recommended by the public and then elected directly by Party members.
Zheng's loss made him curious about the current cadre election mechanism, which seemed ineffective at the time – especially once he learned he had gotten 197 votes, and his rival only 37. This clearly implied that the election had not been impartial or guided by the public. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to accept the disappointing result.
Expanding the legal foundation for public recommendation
After that, Zheng began developing his own ideas. Apart from his own experience, he had also read about the case of direct elections in Buyun Village of Suining City, located in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
"We must try it," Zheng said with political zeal. He found that the provisional regulations of the election, appointment and management of cadres promulgated in 1995 already emphasized a democratic element to some extent; the regulations pointed out that all cadres must be selected through a democratic recommendation procedure, which provided a legal foundation for public recommendation.
Managing risk within the system
Though public recommendation caters to democratic demands, risk must be managed within the system. Therefore, only with the approval and support of leaders in higher positions can the new election method be carried out smoothly.
The method of public recommendation and direct election involves more voters than the previous election system, since all members of the CPC Committee – not only members of the CPC Standing Committee – have the right to vote. By this method, leading cadre candidates are recommended by the public and then elected directly by Party members.
In 2003, Jiangsu Province adopted the method in the selection of a county magistrate and a county-level city mayor, which was a breakthrough and proved very successful.
On December 31, 2001, Buyun County secretly adopted the method of direct election, which was later seen as a typical case. Policemen blocked all roads leading to Buyun in order to prevent any possible leaking of information.
However, 19 days after the Buyun election, the Legal Daily (in Chinese) published an article pointing out that the election had violated the Constitution, citing Article 101, which states that county- and town-level leaders can only be selected indirectly.
Zheng revealed that when he first attempted direct elections in Lingshan they reported to their superiors in advance, but never received a response. He said there are many factors involved when it comes to an election, and risk management within the current system is very important.
"Inner-Party democracy is the life of the Party"
Early at the 16th CPC National Congress, it was pointed out that "Inner-Party democracy is the life of the Party and plays an important exemplary and leading role in people's democracy."
That theory resulted in two major methods to achieve inner-Party democracy, one of which is public recommendation and direct elections, the other being the system of permanent CPC delegates.
In the second method, delegates are elected through competitive election by differential voting. They play their roles by proposing and assessing during sessions, while carrying out research and surveys to collect opinions and demands from the people when Party congresses are not in session.
However, the second method proved to be less effective than the first, since it is not necessary to set up a permanent group of delegates. Further, the practice of public recommendation and direct election has achieved notable results in enlarging inner-Party democracy.
