The winnowing processes in the election of representatives were to be carried out on a decimal system.

The adult voters meeting in their several districts were to choose one-tenth of their number, this tenth being named the Notabilities of the Commune.
These, some five or six hundred thousand in number, meeting in their several Departments, were thereupon to choose one-tenth of their number; and the resulting fifty or sixty thousand men, termed Notabilities of the Departments, were again to name one-tenth of their number, who were styled Notabilities of the Nation.

But the most important act of selection was still to come--from above.

From this last-named list the governing powers were to select the members of the legislative bodies and the chief officials and servants of the Government.
The executive now claims a brief notice.

The well-worn theory of the distinction of powers, that is, the legislative and executive powers, was maintained in Sieyes' plan.