Once passed, the new rule would allow President Xi Jinping to continue as president indefinitely. (File Photo) Once passed, the new rule would allow President Xi Jinping to continue as president indefinitely. (File Photo)

The Chinese Parliament will vote on Sunday to remove a clause from the Constitution that limits its president and vice-president to two consecutive terms. Once passed, it would allow President Xi Jinping to continue as president indefinitely. China’s constitution currently has set limits of two five-year terms for the president and the vice-president.

The rule was initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s and has been strictly followed over the last four decades. The two term limit for presidents had been enshrined in the Chinese Constitution only in 1982 as a way to ensure that leaders do not occupy the top post indefinitely.

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About 2980 National People’s Congress deputies will be casting their votes in Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the proposed changes to the Constitution. At least two-thirds of them must approve the amendment for it to pass.

Ten other amendments have been proposed, including listing of Supervisory Commissions as a new type of state organ. National Supervision System will be the highest body supervising any “public personnel” who exercise public authority. “Supervisory organs will be listed together with administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs of the State, all of which are created by the People’s Congresses to which they are responsible and by which they are supervised,” the proposal stated.

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Voting will be through a ballot paper. Each delegate will be given one ballot paper written in Chinese and seven ethnic minority languages – Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazakh, Korean, Yi and Zhuang. The voting process is closed to the media and results will be declared by outgoing NPC chairman Zhang Dejiang.

(With inputs from Zeeshan Shaikh)

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