16th National Congress of The Communist Party of China - Inner Party Democracy

Inner Party Democracy

Out of the nearly 200 Central Committee that was elected by the Congress, it is possible to judge from the number of votes cast in favour the delegates who lacked support in the party. Huang Ju, who was made Vice-Premier in 2003, had the least votes in favour, with more than 300 delegates voting against him. Others in the bottom seven, in order from least popular, were Li Changchun (CPC propaganda chief), Zhang Gaoli (then Shandong Party Chief), Jia Qinglin (CPPCC Chairman), Xi Jinping (then Zhejiang Party chief), Li Yizhong, and Chen Zhili (made State Councilor). Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu ranked tenth from last, while Beijing party chief Liu Qi ranked twelfth from last. The trend seems to reflect that many Politburo Standing Committee members were extremely unpopular within the party, and that their subsequent positioning is the result of power bargaining between top leaders alone, and not a collective decision by the party.