Updated Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 05:46 AM
China's leadership transition is officially edging ahead, with the executive body of the Communist Party Congress forwarding a list of names to congress delegates for review.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday that the congress's presidium, 41 current and former members of the leadership, approved a candidate list for the Central Committee and sent it to the delegates. The delegates will cast votes before the congress closes Wednesday to choose the Central Committee, a roughly 350-member body.
The Central Committee in turn will select the top leadership.
The move is largely a formality, as is the congress itself. Deciding the lineup of leading bodies falls to a small group of powerbrokers. Candidates outnumber seats by only a small margin, giving the 2,268 congress delegates little choice.
LINTAO ZHANG / GETTY IMAGES
Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Committee Wang Yang attends a meeting of the 18th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
