Xi Jinping Re-Elected Chinese President For Historic 3rd Term Without Competition

Xi Jinping on Friday secured an unprecedented third five-year term as China’s top leader.

What Happened: Xi was voted as Chinese President for the third term after nearly 3,000 members of China’s rubber-stamp parliament voted unanimously in the Great Hall in an election where there was no other candidate, Reuters reported. 

Jinping was first elected in 2012 and, in 2018, abandoned presidential term limits that earlier allowed leaders to rule only for a decade. The unprecedented third term will place Xi as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.

See Also: Xi Jinping Tells China Army To Improve Use Of Defense Resources ‘To Win Wars’ Amid Strategic Risks’

The voting on Friday lasted for about an hour and the electronic counting was completed in about 15 minutes. The National People's Congress (NPC) also formally reappointed Xi as chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Last year in October, at the Chinese Communist Party's 20th National Congress, Xi consolidated his control of the ruling party by winning re-election as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Meanwhile, the Chinese parliament elected Zhao Leji as the new parliament chair and Han Zheng as the new vice president.

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