Xi set to rule China for life as two-term limit scrapped

Parliament scraps two-term limit for 64-yr-old Prez

Beijing, March 11: China’s rubber-stamp Parliament on Sunday allowed President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely, perhaps for life, as it ratified a contentious constitutional amendment to abolish the two-term presidential limit, making him the most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong.

The amendment to give 64-year-old Xi an indefinite term effectively ended the collective leadership system followed by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to avert a dictatorship from emerging in an otherwise one-party state akin to the era of Mao which witnessed the most brutal events like Cultural Revolution resulting in the killings of millions of people.

Set for his second fiveyear term as president in March, Xi, the most powerful leader in recent decades heading the CPC and the military, will now be the first Chinese leader after founder chairman Mao to remain in power lifelong.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) has kept its reputation as the rubber stamp parliament for its routine approval of CPC proposals by voting exactly to the official script. The amendment removing the term limits for the president and the vice-president was approved by the NPC with 2,958 in favour, two against and three abstentions, official media reported. The two votes of dissent apparently had official sanction to show a semblance of diversity. For Sunday’s vote, the NPC chose to follow paper ballot system.

SET FOR his second fiveyear term as president in March, Xi Jinping, the most powerful leader heading the CPC and the military, will now be the first Chinese leader after founder chairman Mao to remain in power lifelong.

THE AMENDMENT removing term limits was approved by the NPC with 2,958 in favour, two against and three abstentions

— AP Chinese President Xi Jinping casts his ballot during a plenary session of China’s National Peoples Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Sunday.