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Media in the dark as CCP mulls top candidate posts

Chinese Communist Party delegates reviewed candidates for top posts yesterday as the party and state media maintained a steely silence on proceedings.

One day earlier, the senior leadership forwarded recommended lists of members recommended to join the party's Central Committee, although the names, number of seats available and even the voting method have not been made public.

A spokeswoman at the congress news office said the more-than 2,200 delegates were holding small group discussions on matters related to the conclave, but said she had no details.

Wednesday's announcement set in motion a closed-door process that will play out over the remaining four or five days of the congress, which is held once every five years.

Party officials said the number of candidates will outnumber seats, a practice introduced during the 1990s to allow a degree of competition and offer delegates a modicum of choice in determining the future lineup for running the country.

Uncertainty remained over how many candidates would fail to make it onto the committee.

Five years ago, 5 percent were eliminated. Officials have not said what the margin would be this year, but there has been speculation it might rise to as much as 10 percent.

Once the new Central Committee, usually about 400 full and alternate members, is chosen, it will select a Politburo -- which has 24 members -- and the Politburo Standing Committee, which now has nine seats and is the apex of power.

With at least two Standing Committee members retiring because of age and one slot vacant due to a death, deciding the new leadership lineup is the most important task before the congress.

Speculation about the top candidates has been furious among political watchers and officials up-and-down the party and civil service whose careers often depend on personal ties.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) spot as party leader is not under threat, but he is believed to face challenges in promoting allies, including a potential successor for when he steps down, perhaps in five years.

A protege, Li Keqiang (李克強), the 52-year-old party head of the industrial Liaoning Province, has encountered resistance from other party leaders who fear giving Hu too much sway.

Chinese newspapers ran front page headlines in patriotic red ink about Wednesday's announcement, which marked a slight break with past secrecy over the inner workings of the congress.

That was in keeping with Hu's baby steps in bringing some transparency to the party's decision-making.

In opening the conclave on Monday, he said more democratic processes are needed in a rapidly changing China, but he stressed that did not mean Western-style democracy.
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