Central Committee of the Erusian National Communist Party

The Central Committee of the Erusian National Communist Party, sometimes known by the acronymn CPECC, is the highest organ of authority within the political hierarchy of the Erusian National Communist Party and the de facto supreme leadership body of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia. Elected at each biannual session of the Party's National Congress, the members of the Central Committee are the most senior officials within both the Party and the State, recognised as important and highly influential figures in Erusian politics - for this reason Central Committee members are often referred to as "Top Party Leaders" by State Media. The fifth and current Central Committee was elected at the 5th National Congress of the Communist Party in February 2010, with ten Standing Members.

Election

Nomination of candidates

Any member of the Communist Party is permitted to nominate themselves as a candidate for election to the Central Committee in the weeks running up to the National Congress, in practice it appears that only candidates who have won the unofficial nomination of a major faction stand a chance in being elected. In general, it seems that the final make-up of the Committee is determined by heavy factional negotiations between top leadership figures rather than through a legitemate democratic process, as only a small number of candidates who stand are ever eliminated at Congress - and they are usually fortune to win more than two or three votes. Candidates who are elected, on the other hand, usually win a high number of votes in support of their nomination. Additionally, Congress always reaches a consensus on the number of candidates to be elected to the Committee even though delegates may elect as many people as they wish, adding weight to the argument that the result of the election is pre-determined. The process can be compared somewhat to a Papal Conclave. It is important to note that both the General Secretary and Congress Chairman are elected separately (often in single-candidate votes), though by convention the candidates for both offices always appear on the Committee ballot paper also.

It is worth noting that though Alternate Members (non-voting members ineligible for Politburo election) have been nominated before, the National Congress has thus far refused to appoint any such officials, electing only Standing Members.

Election process

The election process for the Central Committee is the same as that used for Assembly Members in a General Election. Delegates to Congress are issued with ballot papers on the day of the election (which usually occurs at the Closing Ceremony of each Congress) on which they rank the candidates in order of preference. Votes are then calculated using a Single Transferable Voting method in which candidates are systematically eliminated (by removing the candidate(s) with the lowest number of votes in each round of counting) until the number of candidates is equal to the number of seats available on the Committee, or until enough candidates have achieved the minimum number of votes required for election (calculated according to Droop formula).

Resignation

It is an unpsoken rule of the Communist Party that members of the Central Committee cannot, under any circumstances, resign or retire before the next National Congress. Doing so would be seen as a direct attack on the Party membership and, perhaps more importantly, other members of the Central Committee - resigning as an act of protest would in particular be politically devestating. The only time an official may be removed individually from the Central Committee is if they are purged, in which case the Party may or may not hold a special ballot to elect an Alternate Member to take their place.

Functions and powers

As with most organs of the Communist Party, the Central Committee is shrouded in a degree of secrecy - the precise powers of it are not known. According to the Party Constitution, it is the primary function of the Central Committee to provide guidance to the lower organs of the Party in the absnece of the National Congress, developing a framework for the implementation of policies agreed on at the preceding Congress and offering instruction on how to promote that framework. In practice, the CPECC is the de facto collective leadership of the DPRE, believed to exercise unlimited power and have absolute authority on every issue of national importance. Whilst it must adhere to guidelines laid out by the National Congress and has its work routinely checked by the Central Discipline Commission, it is otherwise thought to have absolute control over the Party and the State.

It is effectively enshrined in the Party Constitution the decisions of the Central Committee are to obeyed and upheld at all costs. Party officials have the right to petition against a decision and privately protest, but public opposition or crticism of a CPECC policy is considered to be political suicide in Erusia - it is the top leaders of the Committee who control promotions at a national level, and thus disloyal and troublesome officials can quickly find themselves marginalised and ultimately stripped of their influence and/or power if they wrong the top Party leaders. Whilst this is true of many political parties, in Erusian politics the sudden end of a party career is often devestating - the individual stands no chance of ever returning to a role of importance in Erusian society.

Decision making process

Next to nothing is known about the decision making process of the Central Committee. Only one non-Erusian has ever attended a meeting of the Committee, and even so at a time when the agenda was intentionally uncluttered - beyond this brief encounter, the internal workings of the CPECC remain a mystery to the micronational world. It is known that the Committee only makes decisions in absentia when absolutely necessary and instead prefers to make them at meetings of all its members, known as Plenary Sessions, which have occurred once every two weeks on a Saturday evening since August 2009. As such, a Central Committee typically holds 14 Plenary Sessions throughout its lifetime. These sessions are presided over by the General Secretary, the ENCP's leader. It is also known that, at least on certain occasions, the Committee makes decisions through a democratic vote of its membership - it is not known however how often such votes occur. It may be that decisions are reached through general consensus rather than a democratic process, as appears to be customary with the Politburo Standing Committee. It is also unknown precisely how much decision-making influence and power individual Standing Members have.

Members of the 5th Central Committee

Factional allegiance unknown Conservative (Hardliner) Moderate Liberal (Reformist)

Political Ranking	Name	Party Offices	National Offices	Notes
I (1st)	Kai Roosevelt	General Secretary of the Central Committee	People's President	De facto supreme leader of the nation; Politburo Standing Committee member. Prior to her election, she served as Chairwoman of the National Congress for a year.
II (2nd)	James Marshall	Chairman of the National Congress	Premier of the National People's Assembly	De facto deputy leader of the Party and State, Erus City Party Chief since 2010; Politburo Standing Committee member.
III (3rd)	Kenneth Maisano	Chief Political Officer	National People's Executive Commissioner for Revolutionary Security	Formerly ranked de facto third in the Party hierarch under Robert Lethler, currently serving also as Sanctia Party Chief; Politburo Standing Committee member.
IV (4th)	Robert Lethler	Chairman of the Central Military Commission	National People's Executive Commissioner for Foreign Affairs	Former General Secretary (2008 - 2010); Politburo Standing Committee member.
V (5th)	Melissa Anderson	Director of the United Front Work Department	Executive Vice-Premier of the National People's Assembly	Nicknamed the Iron Lady of Erusian politics and is the most senior Communist Party leader who does not belong to the Sanctian microethnicity; Politburo member.
VI (6th)	Richard Tobias	X	National People's Executive Commissioner for State Defence	Former Chairman of the Central Military Commission, commissioned military officer with rank of Comrade General Junior Grade; Politburo member.
VII (7th)	Eugene Taylor	Director of the Public Relations Work Department	Second Vice-Premier of the National People's Assembly, National People's Executive Commissioner for Health	Party Chief for Sacria; Politburo member.
VIII (8th)	Laura Williams	X	National People's Executive Commissioner for Internal Affairs	Former Second Vice-Premier of the National People's Assembly.
IX (9th)	Patricia Stewart	Director of the Central Party School	National People's Executive Commissioner for Trade and Commerce
X (10th)	Kira Hart	X	X	Factional allegiance unclear, but based off reports that she campaigned for Carwyn Jenkins to succeed Lethler as leader of the ENCP.