 JCP to hold next congress in January with increased strength The Japanese Communist Party Central Committee 3rd Plenum (April 6-7) approved the JCP Executive Committee's proposal to hold the JCP 24th Congress in January 2006. Shii called for a major campaign to increase party strength up to the JCP 24th Congress, the first after the adopting of the new JCP Program. The campaign is aiming for a 500,000 total JCP membership and an increase in the readers of the newspaper Akahata (daily) and Akahata Sunday Edition by 30 percent respectively. It is necessary to achieve an increase of more than half of the required numbers in each. As a result, there will be an increase of more than 50,000 in JCP members, 50,000 Akahata readers, and 270,000 Akahata Sunday Edition readers. Under the JCP Constitution, the Central Committee is asked to convene the JCP Congress, the highest JCP body, every two or three years. The Congress consists of Central Committee members and delegates from across the nation. The Central Committee is responsible for carrying out Party Congress decisions, represents the party externally and leads the party between congresses. At present, the Central Committee has 129 members and 19 alternate members. (end) |