The Party's national congress in Beijing will hold a primary election before the final ballot to choose members of a new central committee and its discipline commission.

The 237-member presidium to oversee the congress held its second meeting in the Great Hall of the People yesterday afternoon and decided to retain the electoral procedure that has been used since the 13th Party congress in 1987.

The presidium meeting, presided over by General Secretary Hu Jintao, endorsed a proposed list of candidates for election as members and alternate members of the central committee, and members of the discipline commission.

The names will be submitted to all congress delegations for consideration.

A list of proposed ballot scrutineers was also accepted by the presidium and will be ratified by the congress before the final vote begins.

The presidium also adopted draft resolutions on the report made by Hu on behalf of the 16th CPC Central Committee, the report of the Central Discipline Commission and amendments to the Party Constitution. The resolutions will be submitted to delegates.

The presidium consists of members of the Political Bureau of the 16th CPC Central Committee, retired Party veterans, leading officials of ministries and provincial-level localities, military officers and grassroots Party members.

Among the presidium members are 29-year-old Olympic table tennis champion Wang Nan, China's first astronaut in space Yang Liwei, outstanding female judge Song Yushui and "National Model Worker" and bridge crane-driver Xu Zhenchao.

The ballots are among the most important congress agenda items.

The Party Constitution requires that all elections should be by secret ballot.

The primary election system was first introduced at the 8th CPC National Congress in 1956.

At the 13th national congress in 1987, the differential voting system was adopted.

At that congress, five percent of candidates lost in the primary election for members of the central committee and 12 percent of candidates lost in the election for alternate members.

The percentage of losing candidates in the vote of the 14th and 15th national congresses was not released, but at the 16th congress in 2002, the figure was a little over five percent.

Ye Duchu, a senior Party expert with the Central Party School, said he expected the percentage this year to remain about five percent, but some others have speculated it may be higher.

Hu said in his report to the congress that the Party should expand intra-Party democracy.

"We will reform the intra-Party electoral system and improve the system for nominating candidates and electoral methods," he said in the report.

The top leadership of China for the next five years will not be known until Tuesday, when the newly-elected members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee will meet the press.