3. What qualifies a delegate candidate for the CPC National Congress?

Each formal Party member has the right to vote and to stand for election, and can be nominated as a CPC Congress delegate candidate. After adequate deliberations, any candidate should be endorsed by the majority agreement of Party organization and electors. Neither the organization nor any individual shall assign a candidate for any reason.

A candidate to be selected to attend the Party Congress should be an exemplary Party member. He or she should have a sophisticated style of thinking, good work and study habits, strong leadership skills, and a demonstrated life long commitment to the virtues of fairness, honesty, and justness, displaying high moral and ethical character. He or she must maintain close contact with the masses and secure the support of the people. He or she must be capable of handling businesses, able to accurately convey the opinions and demands of other Party members and the masses, and correctly exercise the democratic rights of Party members.

4. How are the delegates elected? How many electoral units are there? How are these electoral units defined?

The delegates selected to attend the Party Congress are elected from within the Party. All the delegates to attend the 16th CPC National Congress have been elected by 38 electoral units. The Party committees of various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government are all predetermined electoral units. Some additional electoral units may be designated according to changes within the Party administrative structure and in departments directly under the CPC Central Committee, offices of the central governments, affiliated institutes, and the military troops.

Delegates from various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government are elected by the respective Party congresses at the provincial level.

Delegates from the departments directly under the CPC Central Committee, offices of the central governments, the financial sector, and the business sector are elected through respective Party meetings held by the Work Committee for Offices Directly under the CPC Central Committee, State Organs Work Committee of CPC, the Financial Work Committee of CPC, and the Business Work Committee of CPC, all entrusted by the CPC Central Committee.

Delegates from Taiwan are elected by the meeting of Party members from Taiwan organized by the Party Committee of All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and entrusted by the CPC Central Committee.

Delegates from the PLA and Armed Forces are elected according to a detailed program prepared by the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and approved by the Central Military Commission.

The units including the railway sector and civil aviation sector which exercise vertical administration over all their constituents from the central level to grassroots level, and the units where the Party membership credentials of their staff Party members are under the administration of local authorities, join local elections at the provincial level.

The delegate candidates nominated by the CPC Central Committee join the election of their respective units.

5. Is a multi-candidate election approach adopted? What's the ratio?

According to the Constitution of CPC adopted at the 15th CPC National Congress, "the election of delegates to committees and Party congresses at all levels must embody the will of the voters. The method of election is by secret ballot. The lists of candidates shall be carefully considered and discussed by Party organizations and voters. The method of multi-candidate election may also be adopted to produce a list of pre-selected candidates, from which actual candidates will be formally elected at a later time.

In strict accordance with the principles of the Party's Constitution, the election of the delegates to attend the 16th National Congress is made by way of multi-candidate elections. The number of candidates in attendance is usually 10 percent more of the number of delegates to be elected.

6. What is the procedure to elect delegates?

(1). The Party organizations of various electoral units propose and nominate delegate candidates for pre-selection. Once electoral units receive information concerning quotas, ratios and the constitution of delegates, they can begin to recommend potential delegate candidates, making selections from within their constituencies. The higher-level establishment will then provide feedback on the pre-selected candidates to the various electoral units for further deliberation. A list of tentative candidates will be determined by the standing committee of the Party committee according to the judgment of the majority of Party organizations or the majority of Party members.

(2). This list of tentative candidates will then be submitted for a qualification examination. A formal examination of selected delegate credentials will be conducted. During the process, opinions of the Party organization, the discipline Inspection department, and supervision department of the unit that a candidate belongs to should be taken into consideration.

(3). The standing committee of the Party committee, according to the quota, requirements, and constitution of delegates, as well as the results of qualification examination, will put forward a provisional list of delegate candidate names.

(4). A plenary session of the Party committee will be held to short-list the delegate nominees and submit the short list to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee for review.

(5). A Party congress or a meeting of Party representatives will be convened to conduct the election. Generally, the number of delegate candidates in attendance should be 10 percent greater than the delegate quota. A process of competitive elections may be undertaken to produce a list of candidate names before a formal election is conducted to authenticate individual candidates. In other cases pre-selection may not be necessary. Instead the multi-candidate election may be held as the formal election process and the results will be submitted directly to the Central Committee for review.

7. Who are the specially invited delegates and how are they selected?

The CPC National Congress is attended by not only full delegates but also specially invited delegates who are designated by the CPC Central Committee. Such delegates invited to attend the 16th CPC National Congress include those specially invited delegates attending the 15th National Congress and retirees from important leading positions since the 15th National Congress.