BEIJING, Oct. 22 – To judge by the reports in China’s state-run news media, the Communist Party took a bold step toward democracy at the just completed 17th National Congress, which approved a new leadership team to run the country. President Hu Jintao used the word democracy 61 times in his main address to the congress. The official Xinhua news agency reported that the party nominated 221 candidates to fill the 204 full seats on the Central Committee, meaning that 8.3 percent of those deemed eligible did not get a seat. Xinhua called this a ‘competitive election.’