Huang's appointment was controversial, not only because of his poor reputation in Shanghai, but also because he was seen as highly partisan, and that he was tapped for promotion solely due to his coziness with Jiang and not as a result of tangible achievements. Zhu Rongji, then the outgoing Premier and who had worked with Huang in Shanghai, was reportedly opposed to Huang's elevation. Back in 1997, Huang's election to the 15th Central Committee received only 1,455 votes in favour, out of 2,074 votes cast, and some 300 votes against, unusually low in Chinese national politics. This meant that nearly one third of party delegates did not even approve of Huang's central committee membership. In 2002, of the full members of the Central Committee, Huang again received the lowest number of votes of anyone elected, meaning there was a real possibility that Huang would not have entered the Standing Committee at all, since Standing Committee members must be selected from the Central Committee.