Election results from provincial-level party congresses confirm that the Communist Party of China (CPC) is eliminating a certain number of deputy party chief posts in a continuing effort to streamline governance.

 

An average of three such posts have been cut in China's Liaoning, Henan, Anhui, Shanxi provinces, and in Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions.

 

There will now be only two deputy party head posts in these provinces, one of whom will be the provincial governor. The other deputy party head post will be responsible for party affairs or discipline supervision.

 

Officials serving as party secretaries will no longer occupy posts in fields like the economy, health or education, because these posts overlapped with vice-governor duties.

 

"It's hard for me to decide who to listen to when there are two leaders," said Wu Xuguang, a construction official in Xiuning County of Anhui Province, in an interview with a Beijing-based newspaper.

 

The thinning of party secretaries will streamline decision-making procedures and enhance governance efficiency, said Wu Zhongmin, a sociology director with the Party School of CPC Central Committee.

 

Prior to the downsizing, secretaries occupy many posts in the local party standing committee, which is the provincial policy-making body. In the new set-up, secretary posts will be cut and more non-secretary officials brought in to the standing committee.

 

"This will curb the dominance of secretaries in the committee -- it is another step taken by the party to realize group governance and democracy," said Liu Suhua, a scholar with the Party School.

 

Even before the provincial-level reshuffling, reelections at lower levels had already eliminated thousands of party posts.

 

In central China's Hunan Province alone, over 5,600 deputy party chief posts at the township level were slashed, an average of 2.6 fewer such posts per town, local government sources said.

 

Nationwide, an average of 200 county level and 40 city level party posts have been eliminated, according to a report in the latest issue of Southern Weekly.

 

With China determined to deepen political reforms in the first phase of the 11th five-year plan period (2006-2010), the latest provincial party congresses have witnessed a wave of personnel changes nationwide.

 

The People's Daily has hailed the ongoing party leadership downsizing as a "significant reform," and warned that in the reform, numerous party cadres "will be transferred from important posts or be demoted".

 

The reform will make it much harder for profiteers to capture a government position and help curb corruption, said Wang Guixiu, a scholar with the Party School.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)