BEIJING: Public pressure, heated debate and a nail-biting vote: Don?t expect any of that when Chinese legislators cast historic ballots on lifting presidential term limits on Sunday.
The National People?s Congress has never voted against anything the Communist Party has imposed on the legislature in its half-century of existence. President Xi Jinping is thus all but certain to secure a path toward ruling the world?s second largest economy for life, but any legislator who may be secretly unhappy with the diktat has ways to discreetly express disapproval.
Experts explain to AFP how the historic vote might go down: - How does the secretive process unfold? - The nearly 3,000 legislators of the National People?s Congress include everyone from local party cadres to billionaires such as Tencent CEO Pony Ma. But they fill a mostly ceremonial role. The real decisions are made by the Communist Party months in advance.
The term limit proposal was kept secret until it was revealed in a state media report on February 25, a week before the legislature?s opening session. The party later disclosed that Xi had presided over a meeting of the Politburo in September during which the leadership decided to revise the constitution.The party said it then sought proposals and opinions, culminating in a decision in late January to introduce constitutional amendments at the NPC. In addition to abolishing presidential term limits, the amendments include the rollout of a national anti-graft body, a larger role for the Communist Party and the addition of Xi?s eponymous political philosophy: ?Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.?
03-10-2018, 08:53 PM
Spoiler alert: Xi unlikely to lose term limit vote
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