Election of Party’s leadership follows a new process

Xi Jinping was re-elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday by a unanimous vote at the first plenum of the new Central Committee elected at the Party’s twice-a-decade national congress. The plenum also elected the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and its Standing Committee.

Based on the nomination of the Political Bureau Standing Committee, it endorsed members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and decided on members of the Central Military Commission.

It also approved the election of the secretary, deputy secretaries and members of the Standing Committee of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In early 2017, Xi began seeking advice from other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau on how to deliberate and determine candidates for a new central leadership.

On April 24, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau held a special meeting presided over by Xi and adopted a plan on the recommendation of candidates for the central leadership.

Candidates should have firm faith and be loyal to the CPC, and keep a “high degree of conformity with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi at the core,” according to sources close to the central leadership.

In late May, a provincial leader was summoned to Beijing for talks. The official had a one-on-one session with a senior leader about recommendations of candidates for the new leadership.

This is an example of oneon-one talks, used in the recommendations for the first time.

During the recommendation processes ahead of the 17th and 18th CPC national congresses, the results were heavily influenced by votes at recommendation conferences.

But some voted recklessly or for people with whom they had connections. The new mechanism included a series of arrangements from one-onone talks, consultations, deliberations and meetings.

From April to June, Xi personally talked to 57 senior leaders and retired leaders. Other senior leaders also did one-on-one sessions with 290 ministerial cadres and senior military officers.

Based on the suggestions, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau came up with a proposal on the makeup of the new central authority on Sept 25.

The Political Bureau approved the proposal on Sept 29 and decided to submit it to the first plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the 19th CCDI.

Sources close to the central authority said the new top leadership marks a new beginning and fully demonstrates the contemporary morale of the CPC.