The election of delegates to the 17th National Congress of Communist Party of China (CPC) went smoothly, as most electoral units have finished preliminarily nominating candidates.

The Party's 17th National Congress will be held in the second half of 2007 in Beijing. A total of 2,220 delegates will be elected by 38 electoral units across the country.

"From the preliminarily-nominated candidate name lists provided by local electoral units, the candidates have broad representation, which is required by CPC Central Committee," said an official with the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee on Sunday.

According to the announcement made by the Organization Department last November, Party member delegates representing grassroots, women, ethnic groups, and new economic and social organizations, should occupy certain proportions.

The CPC currently has more than 70 million Party members, an increase of six million since the 16th congress which was held in November 2002.

The number of delegates to the 17th CPC National Congress is 100 more than the 16th congress. The delegates are required to abide by and implement the Party constitution; carry out the Party's guidelines and policies; be industrious, honest, and upright and be in close touch with the public and honestly represent their opinions and demands.

The Party Committee of Ouhai District, Wenzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province sent text messages to all the more than 15,000 Party members in the district notifying them of the candidate nomination method and deadline, so as to increase the election participation rating.

In Hedong District of Tianjin Municipality, an email box address was made public for Party members to conveniently nominate candidates on line.

Liu Hongtao, a Party member employed by a steel group company in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said "I cast my solemn vote completely according to my will."

Statistics show that in the process of nominating candidates in electoral units, more than 98 percent of Party members participated.

When all the names of qualified nominees at county and prefecture level are put forward, a list of candidates will be decided upon by the local Party congress. This is seen as an improvement over past practices when only the standing committee of a local Communist Party committee made the decision.

The number of short listed candidates will be 15 percent higher than the number of delegates to be elected. This figure is five percentage points higher than during the election for the 16th CPC National Congress, so as to widen voters' choices.

The Party's 17th National Congress, to be held at the time when China's economic and social development enters a "crucial" phase, is an important political event to the Party, the country and the people, said an official with the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2007)