Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 8th: The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that the 21st Party Congress will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2027. Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Notice on the Election of Representatives to the 21st Congress of the Party" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The Central Organization Department subsequently held a meeting to make arrangements for the election of representatives to the 21st Congress. Recently, the head of the Central Organization Department accepted an interview with a Xinhua News Agency reporter on issues related to the election of representatives to the 21st National Congress.
Question: The election of representatives to the 21st National Congress is about to begin. Could you please talk about the importance of doing this work well?
Answer: The 21st Congress of the Party is a very important congress held by our party during the critical period of basically realizing socialist modernization and marching on a new journey towards the second centenary goal. It is a major event in the political life of the party and the country. Choosing the representatives for the 21st Party Congress is very important for the success of the 21st Party Congress.
First, doing a good job in the election of representatives is an important foundation for successfully convening the 21st Party Congress and successfully completing various tasks of the conference. The 21st Party Congress is responsible for summarizing the work of the past five years, clarifying the future direction, goals and action plans of the party and the country, and electing a new Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Representatives of the 21st Party Congress should be outstanding elements selected from among all party members. They are outstanding representatives selected step by step by party organizations at all levels. They shoulder the trust of more than 110 million party members and more than 5.4 million party organizations. They embody the will of the entire party, carry the expectations of the people, and perform sacred responsibilities. During the congress, deputies will listen to and review the reports of the Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, reflect the opinions and demands of the majority of party members and the masses, discuss and decide on major party issues, and elect a new Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The quality, ability, and style of representatives directly affect the quality of discussion and decision-making and the atmosphere of the conference. Selecting representatives to the 21st Congress and successfully completing various tasks of the conference is related to the continuous consolidation of the party's long-term ruling status, giving full play to the party's core leadership role, and the prosperity and long-term stability of the party and the country's cause.
Second, doing a good job in the election of representatives is a vivid practice of persistently promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the party and strengthening and standardizing intra-party political life. If the party wants to manage the party, it must start from the political life within the party, and to govern the party strictly must start from the political life within the party. The election of representatives to the 21st National Congress is an important way and form for party members to correctly exercise their democratic rights and participate in intra-party political life in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism. It is necessary to implement the requirements of persistently promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the party, conscientiously implement democratic centralism, strictly standard conditions, strict review and control, strict election procedures, and strict election disciplines, so that the representative election process becomes a process of in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and a vivid practice of party spirit, party style, party discipline, party history education and intra-party political life. The process of practice has become a process of promoting the establishment and implementation of a correct view of political performance and motivating officials to start their own businesses. It guides the majority of party members and cadres to continuously strengthen their party spirit, strictly abide by disciplines and rules, deeply understand the decisive significance of the "two establishments", strengthen the "four consciousnesses", strengthen the "four self-confidences", achieve "two safeguards", and always maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core in terms of ideology, politics and actions.
Third, doing a good job in the election of representatives is a powerful mobilization to gather the strength of the whole party and realize the party’s mission and tasks in the new era and new journey. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that realizing the Party's mission and tasks in the new era and new journey requires all Communists to strengthen their confidence, continue their struggle, and continuously create new achievements worthy of the times and the people. Facing the complex international situation and the arduous tasks of reform, development and stability, overcoming difficulties, combating risks, and facing challenges require the majority of party members and cadres to not forget their original aspirations, keep their mission in mind, take on their responsibilities, and forge ahead. The election of the 21st Party Congress representatives, adhering to the mass line, in-depth organization and mobilization, mobilizing party organizations at all levels and the majority of party members to actively participate, publicizing the advanced deeds of representatives, will help unify the thoughts of the majority of party members and cadres to the spirit of the Party Central Committee, direct their energy to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, do a good job in various current tasks, forge ahead on a new journey, build a new era of achievements, and gather the majestic power to comprehensively promote the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.
Question: Could you please talk about the main instructions of the Party Central Committee on the election of representatives to the 21st Congress?
Answer: General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee attach great importance to the election of representatives to the 21st Congress. The General Secretary listened to reports many times, chaired meetings of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, reviewed and approved the "Notice", and made comprehensive arrangements and put forward clear requirements for the election of representatives.
In accordance with the Party Central Committee's deployment, to do a good job in the election of the 21st Representatives, we must fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, take the Party Constitution as the foundation, uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership, especially the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, insist on putting political standards first, strictly standard conditions, strict election procedures, strict election discipline, and ensure that the elected 21st Representatives are of high quality, have a reasonable structure, are widely distributed, and have the support of party members.
In accordance with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and the requirements of the “Notice”, the election of representatives to the 21st Congress highlighted the following aspects: Upholding the party’s overall leadership and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. This is the fundamental guarantee for doing this work well, and it is also an important experience summed up in previous elections. It is necessary to implement the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee to the letter, strictly carry out the work in strict accordance with the standard conditions and procedural steps specified by the Party Central Committee, and effectively play the leadership and control role of the party organization in all aspects of the selection of representatives. Conscientiously implement democratic centralism and effectively improve the quality and effectiveness of democracy. Strictly control candidates’ politics, integrity and work style. For Party Congress representatives, political requirements come first, and the most important ones are political firmness and loyalty to the Party. It is necessary to carry out an in-depth and practical inspection of political quality, strengthen the identification of party spirit, focus on the inspection of political stance, political attitude, political consciousness and political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. It is necessary to focus on understanding the decisive significance of the candidates' deep understanding of the "two establishments", strengthen the "four consciousnesses", strengthen the "four self-confidences", achieve "two safeguards" and other aspects, and veto those who are politically unqualified. Implement various regulations on integrity control, conduct strict screening and verification, pay attention to understanding moral character, style and image, etc., and resolutely prevent "ill nomination" and "ill election". Reasonably grasp the representative structure. To fully reflect the nature and purpose of the party, to reflect its advanced nature and broad representativeness, there must be representatives from all fronts and industries. Pay attention to recommending advanced model figures among workers, farmers, and professional and technical party members as representative candidates. Strictly control the identity of candidates and accurately identify them. Strict political discipline, organizational discipline and electoral discipline. Adhere to the strict tone, strict measures, and strict atmosphere, always keep discipline and rules in front, learn deeply from the cases of canvassing, bribery, and sabotage of elections in Hengyang, Hunan, Nanchong, Sichuan, and Liaoning, and resolutely prevent such problems from happening again. Strengthen supervision, investigation and accountability to ensure clean and upright conduct. At the same time, we must adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion, carry out publicity for representative elections in an organized, planned and step-by-step manner, and unify the thoughts and actions of the broad masses of party members, cadres and the masses into the spirit of the Party Central Committee.
Question: How are the electoral units for the 21st Congress deputies divided? How are representative quotas determined and allocated?
Answer: The election of deputies to the 21st National Congress is divided into 38 electoral units, including provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, central and state agencies, central financial systems, and central enterprise systems (in Beijing), which are the same as at the 20th National Congress.
The Party Central Committee made it clear that based on the new situation of the continuous development of the party's cause and changes in the number of party members and party organizations, the number of deputies at the 21st National Congress will be 2,360, 60 more than at the 20th National Congress. The allocation of deputies at the 21st National Congress is mainly determined based on the number of party organizations and party members, while also taking into account factors such as the number of deputies at the previous national congresses of the party. As usual, the Party Central Committee will identify some veteran party members who have retired from leadership positions to attend the conference as specially invited representatives.
Question: According to the requirements of the Party Central Committee, deputies to the 21st Congress must adhere to standard conditions and put political standards first. What specific conditions should they meet?
Answer: The "Notice" stipulates that representatives of the 21st National Congress should be outstanding members of the Communist Party, modelly abide by the Party Constitution, strictly follow the standards of party members, and have the advanced nature of Communist Party members. It also clarifies the conditions that representatives should have from six aspects: ideological quality, political awareness, work ability, style image, work performance, and performance of duties: First, be able to study Marxism hard Think Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of "Three Represents", and the Scientific Outlook on Development, thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, strengthen ideals and beliefs, strengthen party spirit, conscientiously implement the party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy, and consciously use the party's innovative theory to arm the mind, guide practice, and promote work. The second is to be able to deeply understand the decisive significance of the "two establishments", strengthen the "four consciousnesses", strengthen the "four self-confidences", and achieve "two maintenances", be politically reliable, loyal to the party, have strong political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, be clear-headed on major issues and principled issues, withstand the test at critical moments and major events, and consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core in terms of ideology, politics, and actions. The third is to be able to conscientiously implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, keep in mind the "bigger of the country" and the Party's grand plans, take the lead in implementing the requirements of coordinating and promoting the "five-in-one" overall layout and coordinate the promotion of the "four comprehensives" strategic layout, completely, accurately and comprehensively implement new development concepts, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development, and have strong work ability and rich practical experience. The fourth is to be able to keep in mind the original intention and mission, consciously practice the party's fundamental purpose and socialist core values, adhere to the people-centered approach, always stand firm on the people's stand, carry forward the party's glorious tradition and fine style, keep close contact with party members and the masses, practice the "three stricts and three realities", abide by the law, be fair and upright, clean and honest, and have good moral character, style and image. The fifth is to be able to give full play to the vanguard and exemplary role of Communist Party members, firmly establish and practice the correct view of political performance, take responsibility, work hard and contribute, dare to fight, be good at fighting, seek truth and pragmatism, pioneer and innovate, and make remarkable achievements in production and work. Sixth, be able to correctly exercise democratic rights, faithfully perform representative duties, have strong deliberation skills and mass work skills, actively and truthfully reflect the opinions and demands of party members and the masses, and consciously accept supervision.
Question: The representatives of the 21st Party Congress shoulder the great trust and expectations of all party members and party organizations at all levels. They should be broadly representative. How is this reflected? What are the requirements?
Answer: The structure is reasonable and widely distributed, which is an important manifestation of the broad representativeness of the representatives. The Party Central Committee requires that representatives of the 21st Congress should be broadly representative while adhering to the nature and purpose of the party and embodying its advanced nature. The "Notice" clarifies that there must be representatives from various aspects such as economy, science and technology, national defense, politics and law, education, publicity, culture, health, sports, social management and new employment groups, and it also puts forward clear requirements for the proportion of party members leading cadres, front-line party members in production and work, female party members, and ethnic minority party members among the representatives. Mainly grasp the following aspects:
The first is to ensure the proportion of representatives on the front line of production and work. This is an inevitable requirement for consolidating the party's class foundation and expanding the party's mass foundation. The "Notice" clarifies that the proportion of party members on the front line of production and work among representatives of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, the central financial system and the central enterprise system (in Beijing) is generally not less than one-third, and the proportion of party members on the front line of work among representatives of central and state agencies is generally not less than 15%. The election unit must consider the composition of representatives as a whole, reasonably determine the number of representatives of various types, and ensure that the requirements for the proportion of representatives on the front line of production and work set forth by the Party Central Committee are met. At the same time, we must comprehensively consider the industries, fields and regional distribution of representatives, and try our best to ensure that there are representatives from all fields, levels and aspects. For areas where the new economy and new business formats are developing well and the new employment groups are large, attention should be paid to recommending outstanding party members among the new employment groups as representative candidates.
The second is to focus on recommending advanced model figures among workers, farmers and professional and technical party members. We must adhere to the orientation of recommending the best and actively recommend advanced model party members as representative candidates. Pay attention to recommending outstanding Communist Party members who have outstanding performance in implementing major national development strategies, promoting high-quality development, preventing and resolving hidden risks, rescue and disaster relief, and other major struggles, emergencies, dangerous tasks, and difficult environments. Pay attention to recommending advanced models on the front line of production and work who have emerged from studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and centralized education within the Party. Pay attention to recommending advanced model Party members who have been commended or awarded honorary titles in commendations such as the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Party.
The third is to ensure the proportion of female party members and ethnic minority party members. The "Notice" clarifies that the proportion of female party member representatives in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities is generally not less than the proportion of female party members in the total number of party members in the region; there should be a certain number of female party members among representatives of central and state agencies, the central financial system, the central enterprise system (in Beijing), the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force, and each election unit must make overall arrangements. The "Notice" also clarifies that among the representatives of each province and municipality directly under the Central Government, there should be a certain number of ethnic minority party members; among the representatives of each autonomous region, the proportion of ethnic minority party members is determined based on the actual situation. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities must, in accordance with the requirements and in light of the actual conditions of the region, grasp the proportion and composition of ethnic minority party member representatives.
The fourth is to strictly control the identity of candidates. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts and accurately determine the identity of candidates according to the defined scope of party members leading cadres, party members on the front line of production and work, and party members of workers, farmers and professional and technical personnel. The identities of candidates shall be based on the occupations they are engaged in when participating in the recommendation and nomination. Those with multiple identities shall be determined according to the nature of work and representativeness to avoid identity distortion or change of identity to avoid review, and to prevent the quota of representatives on the front line of production and work from being squeezed.
Question: You mentioned earlier that to do a good job in the election of representatives to the 21st National Congress, we must fully implement the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and carry out the work in strict accordance with the prescribed procedures and steps. What are the specific procedures and steps?
Answer: The "Notice" stipulates that the election of representatives to the 21st Congress must adhere to and strengthen the party's overall leadership, especially the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, fully promote intra-party democracy, and adopt a bottom-up, top-down combination, repeated deliberation, and level-by-level selection method. It also clarifies the five main steps of the representative selection process, specifically:
1. Recommend nomination. Adhere to the mass line, recommend and nominate from the grassroots level, and all grassroots party organizations and party members participate. Grassroots party organizations will seriously recommend candidates based on the allocated quotas, the conditions and structural requirements of representatives, etc. Based on the opinions of the majority of grassroots party organizations and party members, the grassroots party committees collectively study and select recommended candidates. Cities, counties and other recommending units conduct research and selection of recommended candidates, and convene a plenary meeting of the party committee to discuss and decide on the recommended candidates. The election unit holds a party committee standing committee meeting (working committee meeting, party group meeting) to determine the preliminary list of candidates for representative candidates.
2. Organize inspections. The election unit conducted a comprehensive and in-depth inspection of the preliminary candidates for representative candidates, and fully listened to the opinions of grassroots party organizations, party congress representatives, party members and the public. Implement balance inspection and inspection notice. Strictly control the political aspects of candidates, insist on putting political standards first, conduct in-depth and practical political quality inspections, strengthen party spirit identification, and focus on examining political positions, political attitudes, political consciousness and political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. We must adhere to the principle of observing people by facts and knowing people by facts, and combine the performance in major struggles, urgent and dangerous tasks, and difficult environments, pay attention to understanding political performance through specific examples, and resolutely prevent the selection of politically problematic people. Strictly control the integrity of candidates, and all candidates for inspection should seek the opinions of the party organization and disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies of their respective units, review relevant archives and materials, and review and draw conclusions on their integrity and self-discipline and specific and verifiable clues to violations of discipline and law, such as petitions and reports. If the subjects of the investigation are party members and leading cadres, personal reports on relevant matters must be reviewed. Those who have problems with their integrity, or whose problems have not been clarified, or whose doubts have not been eliminated, or who have no proof, shall not be considered as candidates. Pay attention to understand the spirit of the candidates' implementation of the eight central regulations and their implementation rules, and understand their moral conduct, work style, and social image. Those with poor moral conduct, unruly conduct, and unsatisfactory work style shall not be selected as candidates.
3. Determine the preliminary candidates for representative. The election unit convenes a meeting of the Party Committee Standing Committee (working committee meeting, party group meeting), studies and proposes preliminary candidates for representative candidates based on the inspection situation and representative structure requirements, and publicizes them in an appropriate manner within the scope of the election unit, and further solicits the opinions of party organizations, Party Congress representatives and party members. Before the preliminary selection of representative candidates is determined, the opinions of the disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies at the same level should be sought. For preliminary candidates from financial institutions, enterprises, etc., opinions from relevant departments such as administrative law enforcement and industry supervision should also be listened to in a targeted manner.
4. Determine preliminary candidates for representative. The election unit convenes a plenary meeting of the party committee (working committee meeting, party group meeting) to vote to determine the preliminary candidate candidates. Representative candidate candidates can be determined by equal amounts or by differences.
5. Meeting election. The election unit convenes a party congress or party representative meeting (enlarged meeting of the working committee) to conduct elections. You can first use the differential election method to conduct pre-selection to generate a list of candidates, and then use the equal-number election method to conduct the formal election; you can also directly use the differential election method to conduct the formal election without going through the pre-selection. The proportion of differential elections should be more than 15%.
On the eve of the 21st Congress of the Party, the qualifications of the deputies will be reviewed by the 21st Congress Delegate Qualification Review Committee.
Q: Finally, could you please talk about the measures and requirements for organizational leadership in the election of representatives to the 21st Congress?
Answer: Doing a good job in electing representatives to the 21st National Congress is a major political task. The Party Central Committee requires that the party organizations of all electoral units should attach great importance to it and effectively strengthen leadership. The main responsible comrades should effectively assume political responsibilities. The discipline inspection and supervision agencies and functional departments such as organization and publicity should strengthen work guidance and give full play to the leadership and control role of the party organization in the entire process of representative election. It is necessary to strictly enforce political discipline, organizational discipline and electoral discipline, intensify supervision, investigation and accountability, and investigate and deal with every violation and violation of laws and disciplines such as canvassing and bribery, intercession and sabotage of elections, and never tolerate or be lenient to ensure integrity. It is necessary to strengthen ideological and political work and publicity work, encourage grassroots party organizations and party members to actively participate in the recommendation and nomination of representatives, and correctly exercise democratic rights; educate and guide party members and cadres to correctly treat recommendation, nomination and election results. It is necessary to carry out the publicity of the representative election work in an organized, planned and step-by-step manner, thoroughly publicize the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee, publicize the great significance, policies and regulations, experience and practices of the representative election work, focus on publicizing the advanced and exemplary deeds of party members and representatives on the front line of production and work, and create a good public opinion environment for the smooth conduct of the representative election work.
The Party Central Committee emphasized that party organizations at all levels must carefully organize and arrange with a high sense of political responsibility and a rigorous and meticulous work style to conscientiously complete various tasks for the election of the 21st National Congress of Representatives, and mobilize the majority of party members and cadres to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. (over)
