Beijing to see overhaul

BEIJING - Reuters

This file photo shows Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) talking to Vice President Xi Jinping, both of whom will be key figures Nov 8 in the critical Communist Party Congress, which is already overshadowed by corruption claims.

China’s outgoing leader and his likely successor are pushing the ruling Communist Party to adopt a more democratic process this month for choosing a new leadership, sources said.

The extent of the reform would be unprecedented in communist China where elections for the highest tiers of the party have been mainly exercises in rubber-stamping candidates already agreed upon by party power-brokers.

President Hu Jintao and his heir, Xi Jinping, have proposed that the party’s 18th congress, which opens tomorrow, should hold elections for the elite Politburo where for the first time there would be more candidates than available seats, said three sources with ties to the party leadership.

The Politburo, currently 24 members, is the second-highest level of power in China from which the highest decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, is chosen. They are chosen by the roughly 200 full members of the Central Committee which is in turn chosen by the more than 2,000 delegates at this week’s congress.