Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng has said he accepts 'independent candidates' who support communist rule, but warned them not to immerse themselves in Western-style democracy.
Yu (pictured), a member of the Politburo and a contender for a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee at next year's 18th party congress, made the comments in a rare, high-profile lecture to 5,000 student party members at Shanghai's Jiaotong University ahead of next week's 90th anniversary of the Communist Party.
Rising political stars, like Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai and Guangdong party chief Wang Yang, have boosted their profiles recently as party factions gear up for next year's leadership reshuffle.
'The border in dealing with such people [independent candidates] is over whether [they] support the constitution and communist leadership,' Yu said when asked about a wave of web-based, self-nominated 'independent candidates' for local people's congress elections.
Nearly 100 candidates have declared their candidacies on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, ahead of people's congress elections at the county and township level.
However, on June 8, an official with the National People's Congress' Legislative Affairs Commission said there was no legal basis for the 'independent candidates'.