Ending months of jockeying for power, China’s ruling Communist Party is all set to select 371 members for its top policy body the Central Committee on the penultimate day of its week-long once-in-a-decade leadership Congress being held here.

The preliminary elections were conducted today and delegations will hold meetings to mull over the draft name-lists of candidates for members and alternate members of the new CPC Central Committee, state-run Xinhua reported.

A formal election will be held tomorrow.

The formation of the new Central Committee in turn would pave the way for the selection of a 25-member Politburo, which would then choose the elite seven- or nine-member Standing Committee which rules the world’s second largest economy and the globe’s most populous country for the next 10 years.

The Standing Committee included President, Prime Minister, Chiefs of the two houses of the Chinese Parliament, Vice-President and two Vice-Premiers and leaders holding charge of defence, business and internal security.

The current Vice-President Xi Jinping, 59 is officially projected to get elected as the General Secretary of the over 82-million-member-strong Party and the Chinese President to succeed the incumbent, Hu Jintao, 69.

Senior Vice Premier, Li Keqiang, 57 is being tipped to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao, 70, who along with Hu would be retiring at the end of this year.

Unlike the last succession 10 years ago, when the previous President Jiang Zemin continued as Chief of the Military Commission, reports here said Hu may quit that post also to enable Xi to have a head-start with the post of General Secretary, President of the Country and Chairman of the Military Commission.

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