Democracy at China Party meet means all vote "yes"

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's ruling Communist Party has gone to great pains to show it's open and willing to have more debate at this week's key Congress, but when it comes to voting, almost everyone still votes "yes".

At the closing ceremony on Sunday, the media were allowed into the Great Hall of the People's main auditorium to watch voting on whether to pass President Hu Jintao's work report and enshrine his doctrines into the Party constitution.

But the crucial vote -- though the result was never in doubt -- for the 200-strong Central Committee was done behind closed doors.

Reporters, apart from those from approved state media, were locked out, kept waiting in a distant corridor for about 90 minutes.

No details on the voting breakdown were provided by the official Xinhua news agency, which limited itself to saying who was left off the name list, like Vice President Zeng Qinghong.

Pictures taken by Xinhua showed delegates casting light-red ballots into dark red boxes embossed with a gold hammer and sickle. One box also sat on the main stage, in front of Hu.

Delegates interviewed by Reuters declined to elaborate, many saying they did "not remember clearly" the results.

"The people who got elected did so with a high margin. This was in accordance with the wishes of the delegates," said Wu Gancheng, a police officer from the southern province of Hunan.