Senior members of the Communist Party held an internal poll in mid-May to select their favoured top leaders for the next 10 years, in a significant reformist step that may be institutionalised in the future.
In the poll, about 370 members and alternate members of the party's Central Committee cast preferences for the party's decision-making Politburo, currently a 25-member body, and the Politburo Standing Committee, its inner-most cabinet, according to sources who have knowledge of internal party matters.
Although the ballot may not be decisive in determining the leadership's exact line-up, sources say its results will have an important bearing on the actual selection of the top leaders of the party's 80 million members.
The internal survey is in line with the 'intra-party democracy' idea advocated by the current party secretary, Hu Jintao.
If this experiment goes well and delivers a consensus-based line-up, it may well influence how future succession processes are conducted, insiders say.
One party insider also said the central leadership was very likely to reduce the number of Politburo Standing Committee members from nine to seven when the 18th party congress is held this year.
