The election of more than 2,000 delegates to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has completed and the name list of those elected been released in press media in compliance with the unified arrangements of the CPC Central Committee. On this event, a leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee has had an exclusive interview with PD reporters. Its main contents are as follows: The work of electing delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress commenced in October 2006 and ended up successfully in June this year, according to the leading member of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. A total of 2,217 delegates have been elected to the upcoming 17th National Congress from 38 electoral units nationwide in a matter of nine months. The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the election of delegates for the upcoming national congress. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made important instructions with regard to the work, and the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its Standing Committee called the respective meetings for special researches and to define the guiding ideology, principle and policy specifications concerning the election of CPC delegates. By drawing on the experience of recent CPC national congresses and that of the 16th held in 2002 in particular, a serial vital measures have been adopted to keep up with the time and make reform and innovations, further extending inner-Party democracy, improving the delegates'' structure and election procedures, setting forth rigid qualifications on CPC delegates and raising their competency. Overall, the delegates elected in various units are the fine, outstanding elements among the CPC members, who are sound politically and ideologically with fine styles of ideology, work and life, and have made eminent achievements in both production and work with fairly strong capacities of resolving official, administrative matters. There has been an increase in the ratio of delegates from grassroots, women delegates and delegates among middle-aged and young people.While giving close attention to the adherence to the advanced character of the Party members during the course of election, Party organizations at all levels have given special heed to a wide representation with a relatively rational mix of delegates elected and a composition of all components compliant with requirements set by the Party Central Committee. So there are ensuing hallmarks: First, a rise in the proportion of Party members in production and work frontlines.
Among all the delegates to the congress, 28.4 percent are grass-root CPC members from all walks of life and the ratio of the delegates elected at the grass-root level from the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China and the central enterprise system (in Beijing) exceeded 30 percent, a somewhat bigger increase in the ratio of CPC delegates at grassroots at the time of the 16th National Party Congress. Second, a fairly balanced distribution with a representation of all sectors. Delegates to 17th CPC National Congress come from all trades and professions in economy, science and technology, national defense, politics and laws, education, media publicity, culture, health work, physical culture and sports fields, involving workers, farmers, servicemen, professionals and government functionaries, and also representatives of Party members in new economic and social organizations. Third, a marked rise in the ratio of women delegates. Among the elected delegates, there were 445 women, 63 more than at the 16th CPC National Congress, accounting for 20.1 percent, or 0.4 percentage points higher than the ratio of women Party membership nationwide. Fourth, a rise in the ratio of delegates of ethnical minorities. Among the finally elected delegates, there were 242 people of ethnic groups, 12 people more than at the 16th National Congre, making up 10.9 percent. Of the 55 minority ethnicities, 42 ethnic groups have their own delegates. Fifth, an increase in the number of delegates of the middle-age people and youths. Among the finally elected delegates, there are 1,561 delegates under age 55, comprising 70.4 percent, 7.2 percent higher than the ratio of those attending the 16th National Congress; 416 delegates are under age 45, or 0.8 percent higher than the proportion of the delegates of the same age group at the 16th National Congress. Sixth, a higher level of education. Among the delegates, there are 2,068 delegates of at or above the junior