Nearly 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for Xi, 69, to be president for the third time in an election where there was no other candidate.
The voting lasted for about an hour and the electronic counting was completed in about 15 minutes. The stage was set for another Xi term when he did away with presidential term limits in 2018. His power was already extended last October when he was reconfirmed for another five years as general secretary of the central committee of the ruling Communist Party.
Over the next two days, officials approved by Xi are set to be appointed or elected to fill top positions in the cabinet, including premier-in-waiting Li Qiang, who is expected to be named to China’s No.2 post, putting him in charge of managing the world’s second-largest economy.