China’s legislature elected President Xi Jinping to the post for a second five-year term on Saturday. Wang Qishan was appointed the vice president.
Xi’s re-election came six days after the National People’s Congress abolished the two-term limit for presidents. This can enable him to hold the post indefinitely, though he has not yet said how many additional terms he intends to serve, AP reported.
None of the nearly 3,000 members of the Great Hall of the People voted against Xi, Reuters reported.
Xi is said to be the most powerful leader China has had since Mao Zedong. He first became president in 2013, and with the constitutional limit on the number of terms, would have had to give up the office in 2023. But he now has a lifetime to push for his agenda of turning China into an economic and a military superpower.
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