China’s President Xi Jinping secures third term in ceremonial vote

China’s President, Xi Jinping, has secured what the country’s media refers to as an “unprecedented” third term as president which was officially endorsed by the country’s political elite on Friday.

The endorsement has solidified Xi’s control and makes him the longest-serving head of state of Communist China since its founding in 1949.

Xi was reappointed as president for another five years by the Chinese legislature in a ceremonial vote in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

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The reappointment of Xi who is China’s most powerful and authoritarian leader in decades, was largely seen as a formality, after the 69-year-old secured a “norm-shattering third term as head of the Chinese Communist Party last fall.”

Xi’s reappointment as head of state officially completes his transition into a second decade in power and comes amid a broader reshuffle of leadership roles in the central government, or the State Council, and other state organizations that further increases Xi’s already firm grasp on the levers of power.

Li Qiang, one of Xi’s most trusted protégés, is expected to be chosen as China’s premier on Saturday.

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