Distinct feature

Li Junru, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body, said: "Combining electoral democracy with consultative democracy is another distinct feature of China's development of political democracy, especially in the past ten years."

Democracy is always pursued within the CPC. As of July this year, the leadership reshuffle of local Party committees at the provincial, city, county, and village-level had been completed. Promoting democracy and ensuring Party members' rights have featured the process of the reshuffle.

Equal representation

In March 2010, the National People's Congress, the parliament, adopted the amendment to the Electoral Law with landslide votes, which grants equal representation in legislative bodies to rural and urban people.

It requires "both rural and urban areas adopt the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in elections of people's congress deputies."

It also raises the ratio of deputies from grassroots level.

"Meanwhile, the role played by political consultative bodies at various levels reflects the advancement of consultative democracy in the past 10 years," Li said.

China's grassroots democracy has also been successful since the CPC held its 16th national congress ten years ago.

By the end of 2011, the reshuffle of members of 89,000 community residents' committees and 590,000 villagers' committees had been completed nationwide.

In a speech delivered at the opening session of a workshop for ministerial-level officials on July 23 this year, President Hu Jintao said the Party has put political system reform in an important position in the overall reform and development agenda. He said that significant progress had been made in that regard.

"Political system reform is necessary because it is a decisive element in boosting the country's economic, educational, scientific, technological and cultural reforms, " Li said.

The reform of the political system has been far from achieving its goals, especially in terms of preventing individuals from acting wilfully on their own or abusing their power. It requires that reform be carried on continuously.

"China will not copy Western-style political systems," Li said.

On the basis of China's national conditions, the country will keep combining electoral democracy with consultative democracy, driving people's democracy by intra-Party democracy, and governing the country by law, he said.