BEIJING - New members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will be decided through competitive election, Cai Mingzhao, spokesman for the 18th CPC National Congress, ?said at a press conference Wednesday.

Delegates and specially invited delegates to the Party congress will select members and alternate members of the 18 CPC Central Committee through secret ballot in competitive election, Cai said on the preparation for the congress, to open on Thursday.

There are a total of 2,325 delegates and specially invited delegates to the 18th Party congress.

At the 17th Party congress in 2007, the nominees for primary elections were 8.3 percent more than the elected members of the CPC Central Committee.

At the 16th CPC congress, ten nominees lost in the primary vote for candidates of central committee members, marking a 5.1 percent.

Competitive elections were first introduced to the 13th Party congress in 1987, at which the nominees eliminated at the primary elections for members and alternate members of the central committee and members of the central discipline commission numbered 10, 16 and four respectively.

After that competitive election was written into the Party's Constitution to improve "intra-Party democracy."