One delegate to the upcoming 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been disqualified for serious violation of discipline, Li Dongsheng, spokesman for the congress, said Sunday.

 

However, Li did not offer more detailed information about who the disqualified delegate is and what was done in violating disciplines.

 

Three of the 2,217 elected delegates have died of illness, the spokesman said at a press conference.

 

The actual number of delegates to attend the national congress is 2,213. Representing more than 70 million CPC members, the delegates are strong in terms of vanguard nature and broadly representative, he said.

 

He said that new measures have been taken to expand intra-Party democracy in the election of delegates.

 

Candidates have been recommended more democratically than before with public notification within the electoral units, he added.

 

Statistics show Party committees at all levels nominated 2,550 candidates for the 2,217 elected delegates, which means the number of candidates is 15 percent higher than the final number of delegates, compared with 10 percent in the election of delegates to the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002.

 

Li said that the election of delegates to the congress went smoothly and more than 99 percent of grassroots Party organizations and more than 98 percent of individual Party members participated in the election.

 

Among the elected delegates, 20.1 percent are women, 10.9 percent come from minority ethnic groups and 70.4 percent are under the age of 55, according to the spokesman, noting the CPC Central Committee has invited some veteran comrades to the 17th National Congress as special representatives.

 

The congress is scheduled to open on Monday and will last seven days till Oct. 21, Li said.

 

The Party's Constitution stipulates that Party organizations should criticize, educate or take disciplinary measures against members who violate Party discipline, depending on the nature and seriousness of their mistakes. Party members who have seriously violated criminal law shall be expelled from the Party.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)