The rare moment when every vote counts at China’s party congress
The selection of the country’s ruling elite might seem like a rubber stamping exercise, but the party’s rank and file are not without influence, insiders say
While the election process for China’s ruling elite is unlikely ever to be held up as a bastion of democracy, for the delegates at next week’s 19th National Congress it does at least provide an opportunity to have a small say in who they think should stay and who should go.
About 2,300 people will attend the twice-a-decade event, which opens on Wednesday and where one of the main orders of business will be the election of the 200-plus members of the party’s Central Committee.
There remains the possibility for disappointment and upset, as the candidates are listed by the number of votes they receive.
Five years ago, Ling Jihua – despite once being a right-hand man to then President and General Secretary Hu Jintao – suffered the humiliation of receiving the fewest votes of the 205 people elected to the committee.
“I remember there was uproar among the delegates … when it was announced that Ling had received the fewest votes,” a party congress delegate five years ago, who asked not to be named, told the Post.