The lawmakers rose and clapped for Xi as the results were announced in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Earlier, he chatted casually with top lieutenants Li Qiang, Wang Huning and Zhao Leji as NPC members cast their red paper ballots. Li is expected to be named premier on Saturday.
Chinese lawmakers unanimously voted to give Xi Jinping a third term as president Friday, completing his ascension to supreme leader of the world’s No. 2 economy.
Xi won the vote in the National People’s Congress 2,952-0, officially giving him five more years in power and demonstrating his unrivalled grip over the ruling Communist Party. He also won
unanimously in 2018, the same year China abolished constitutional provisions that would’ve barred him from a third term.
