ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the most recent round of elections by provincial party congresses and the provincial leaders that were produced. It discusses the provincial party elections in China before the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and assesses these outcomes in terms of the new Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang administration. Provincial leaders also form the main body of the communist party's central committee, which elect the Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee, as well as the General Secretary of the Party. Several provinces adopted new measures of intra-party democracy in electing their standing members. Ethnic minorities and women are in the minority in the provincial party leadership; ethnic minorities are overrepresented while women are underrepresented. But as a result of the 18th National Party Congress, there is one female Politburo member from the provinces but no minority Politburo members from the provinces. It is a fact that one third of provincial party leaders are former youth league cadres.
