Election of local Party officials completed in half of jurisdictions

Fourteen of China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have reshuffled various Party committees following internal elections for Party officials, according to Tuesday's China Business News.

According to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, many local committees of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have been downsized. The Party is reducing the number of elected Party positions in an effort to make the organization more efficient and streamlined.

The number of party officials elected to a variety of posts, including the numbers of deputy party chiefs, have been reduced, said the department which, together with the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, supervised the local elections which began in August.

In Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning, the number of members of the standing committees of local Party committees has been reduced by more than 30 at the municipal level, more than 200 at the county level and more than 5,000 at the township level, the department said.

In Qinghai Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the positions of 14 deputy secretaries at the municipal level, 50 at the county level and 124 at the township level were eliminated in the new local CPC committees.

Meanwhile, the local party has elected more women and members of ethnic groups and the average age of new local officials elected to CPC committees is much lower than in previous elections, the Organization Department said.

Local Party leadership elections, which occur every five years have been completed at the provincial, municipal, county and township levels, in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Henan, Anhui, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hebei, Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi.

The election of Party officials in other regions and jurisdictions will be completed by the middle of next year.

Source: Xinhua