A senior Party official said Friday the Communist Party of China (CPC) is resolute and determined to push forward reforms of China's political structure.

Wang Jingqing, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, was speaking at a press conference on Party building on the sidelines of the ongoing 18th National Congress of the CPC.

"Since reform and opening-up, our Party has drawn experience and lessons about socialist democracy, and stressed that people's democracy is the lifeblood of socialism," Wang told reporters.

Wang, whose department oversees the Party's personnel management, noted that the CPC has been promoting reforms for its personnel and officials, as part of its political reforms.

"We have strived to make the ranks of the officials become more revolutionary, younger, better-educated and more professionally competent. We have abolished the de facto life tenure of leaders and institutionalized leadership transition," Wang said.

According to him, during the latest reshuffle of provincial and municipal Party standing committees, 61.6 percent of the newly promoted officials had grass-roots working experience. Among the 2,789 Party chiefs at county level, 130 are under the age of 40, a boost of 58.5 percent on the number of young officials five years ago.

"Our socialist democracy construction suits China's conditions and therefore has great vitality," said Wang.

In his report at the opening of the Party congress Thursday, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee  Hu Jintao said that the country will continue to carry out political reform. "We must continue to make both active and prudent efforts to carry out the reform of the political structure, and make people's democracy more extensive, fuller in scope and sounder in practice," Hu said.

Hu said the CPC will place high importance on systemic building, give full play to the strength of the socialist political system and draw on the political achievements of other societies.

Responding to a question about the election of top Party leaders, Wang said it follows the Party constitution and rules, noting that the election system and procedure are "standard and clear."

During the ongoing Party congress, delegates will first deliberate on the election method for the CPC Central Committee and candidates, before electing the 18th CPC Central Committee, Wang said.

Wang noted that the Central Committee selection process will be a competitive election, but did not reveal the elimination rate of candidates.

The new Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its standing committee will be elected by members of the CPC Central Committee at its first plenary session to be held after the conclusion of the congress.

The CPC now has more than 82.6 million members.