Ma Ningyu stood on the podium and spoke with confidence on his ideas about how to better serve the public in his district. He is speaking off the cuff to convince a panel of judges about his political ideas in a few minutes.
When challenged with a question his eight-year work experience would not be enough, he says, "Youth is a kind of fortune. Young men are more ready to face up to the situation and seek renovations."
Ma is deputy head of Xiaohe District in Guiyang, capital of southwestern China's Guizhou Province. He aims to compete for the district Party secretary's post.
He is one of the 81 competitors running for the Party secretaries of four counties and districts in Guiyang.
They have to pass contests including the nominations, field research reports, the televised speeches and debates, public opinion and final votes among the superiors within the Party. The key scores and performances have been publicized on paper, TV, radio or Inernet.
Though China observed similar official selection changes elsewhere, Guiyang draws attention for its difference: providing the positions of county Party secretaries.
"In the past, similar official selection contests involve less important positions. It is the first time for county Party secretary positions. County is the basic key management unit in China's society," said Fang Zhijun, a judge of the panel and a professor with Nanjing Normal University in Jiangsu Province.
Ye Duchu, a professor with Party School of the CPC Central Committee, took it as a "positive try" to develop "intra-Party democracy".
He believed there are two key concepts in the efforts: transparency and participation. "One is to publicize the Party work and the government work. The second is to enable more Party members or the public to participate in politics, including commenting on officials' merits or wrongs."
Ye said it mainly came from the 17th CPC National Congress report in 2007, which requires publicizing Party work, develop democracy and encouraging the Party members to participate in political affairs actively.
Ye also dismissed a misunderstanding, saying "the practice is not an election because elections need strict voting systems". He believed China has its own complicated situation and is exploring its own way to achieve social harmony. "Never mind if others are saying you are moving too slow or too fast. We should have our own rhythm based on our own situation."
Wang Yukai, a professor with National School of Administration, said, "It makes contestants pay more attention to public opinions and let the public have more say in official selection. Secondly, the transparency makes the contestants know their support comes from the public and thus will work hard to serve the people; thirdly it stresses capacities of the cadres, preventing them from pulling the strings as they have to compete through publicized procedures."
After about half-month of competition, eight were short-listed on July 17. Four of them will finally emerge as victors in a week after being chosen by senior officials.
36-year-old Huang Qiubin admitted he was under pressure as "all the scores, debates and speeches were publicized through TV, radio and the Internet."
As head of Xifeng County, Huang was competing for the Party secretary ship of the county. China has dual leadership of a government chief and a Party secretary of the same rank, but it is an accepted fact that the Party official makes the final call.
"I did not feel much pressure when I was nominated to the current position two years ago, because we need not be exposed to the public." The usual way to appoint Party leaders is through internal nominations and appointments by senior party members.
Li Jun, Party Secretary of Guiyang, said, the improved selection aims to avoid "dark box" operation and select excellent cadres for the key positions of county Party secretaries.
He said it came from the principles of the 17th Party Congress Report, which ordered "let power operate in the sunshine" and put forward rules in official elation - democracy, transparency, competition and choosing the best.
The new change won public support.
Chen Wen, a Guiyang citizen, said, "An old Chinese saying goes like that if you want us to discern a horse or a mule, it's easy, just let it walk before our eyes. The official selection processes are more transparent and we can easily find out their capacities."
Source:Xinhua
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