Chinese President Xi Jinping won re-election in a unanimous vote by the community country’s rubber-stamp parliament Saturday.
All 2,970 members of the National People’s Congress approved Xi’s reappointment to the office he has held since 2013 and could now continue to hold indefinitely under a recent reform.
Xi, who leads the ruling Communist Party, was also named as head of the commission that commands the military.
Last week, the Communist-dominated congress paved the way for Xi, 64, to stay in power indefinitely when it scrapped a law limiting presidents to two consecutive five-year terms.
Xi is widely seen as the nation’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
Also on Saturday, the congress named Xi’s main ally, Wang Qishan, as vice president, with only one member voting against the move.
Wang, 69, was a key player in Xi’s anti-corruption movement and jailed dozens of officials while heading the Community Party’s anti-corruption body.
Both men were sworn in at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where they pledged loyalty to the country, its people and its government.
With Post wires