China’s ‘president for life’: Congress votes to abolish term limits
March 11, 2018 02:32 pm
China has approved the removal of term limits for its leader, in a move that effectively allows Xi Jinping to remain as president for life.
The constitutional changes were passed by China’s annual sitting of the National People’s Congress on Sunday.
The vote was widely regarded as a rubber-stamping exercise. Two delegates voted against the change and three abstained, out of 2,964 votes.
China has imposed a two-term limit on its president since the 1990s.
Mr Xi, however, defied the tradition of presenting a potential successor during October’s Communist Party Congress.
Instead, he consolidated his political power as the party voted to enshrine his name and political ideology in the party’s constitution - elevating his status to the level of its founder, Mao Zedong.
In late February, the party proposed removing term limits from China’s constitution. Mr Xi was due to step down in 2023.
-Agencies-