In a potentially wide-reaching reform, the Communist Party has handed more power to delegates, allowing them to participate in party affairs more often and in a greater capacity than before.
Under previous arrangements, the central and local party committees, made up of elite members, took charge of party matters, while delegates exercised their rights - largely nominal - only at meetings held every five years.
The new initiatives introduce a 'tenure system' for delegates to party congresses at all levels, allowing them to take part in decision-making throughout the year.
'Before now, they [delegates] exercised their rights only once in five years, due to a lack of institutional channels to facilitate a genuine fulfilment of their roles,' Wang Yukai, professor of party affairs and public policy at the National School of Administration, said.
'Previously, being a party delegate was largely a ceremonial position without much substance.'
The new mechanism would 'effectively add power to party delegates' and 'subject the party elite to greater accountability', he said.
