China Briefing | Analysis: how Xi Jinping revived old methods by abandoning intraparty democracy
The termination of the straw poll method to select top leadership illustrates the president’s increased power within the party
On a summer afternoon on June 25, 2007, about 400 Communist Party elites, including its Central Committee members and other leading officials, converged in Beijing for what was billed as an “important strategic decision” in the party’s history.
For the first time, they were invited to participate in a straw poll to recommend provisional candidates for the 25-member Politburo to be sworn in later that year, immediately following the 17th party congress.
Each participant was given an orange ticket which contained the names of nearly 200 ministerial ranking officials and generals deemed qualified for induction into the party’s inner-circle, decision-making body, Xinhua reported.
It described the poll as an important breakthrough in developing the party’s internal democracy, promoting institutionalisation and standardisation of the top leadership succession, even though it offered no details about how the straw poll went and who came up on top.
Five years later in May 2012, the elite officials met again to make recommendations on candidates not only for the 25-member Politburo but more importantly for the Politburo Standing Committee, the party and the country’s highest governing council. These were to shape a new leadership line-up at the 18th party congress to be held that year, from which Xi Jinping emerged as the party’s chief.
