Chinese parliamentarians yesterday elected Li Qiang, who is close to Xi Jinping, as prime minister, a day after the Chinese president was re-elected for a third five-year term. On Friday, Xi Jinping, 69, received a new five-year term after a unanimous vote in parliament, culminating in a rise that has made him the country’s most powerful president in generations, and with parliament virtually subordinate to the party, the ruling Communist Party of China, the vote has never been in doubt. .
In another Saturday vote for deputies gathered at the People’s Palace in Beijing, Li Qiang, the only candidate for premiership, received 2,936 votes, three deputies voted against him and eight abstained.
After his appointment, Li Qiang took the constitutional oath and vowed to “work diligently to build a great modern socialist country.”
