Chinese President Xi Jinping may end up becoming the country's longest running leader if he accepts a longer term limit now that it is officially removed.
On Sunday, the National People's Congress, in its annual sitting, officially ruled to remove the two-term limits for the presidency. Prior to this vote, many already said they will support the vote to remove the term limits. Only two delegates voted against the decision and three abstained out of the 2,964 votes,
Since the 1990s, China had imposed a two-term limit on its presidency. However, the vote this year is the first of its kind to be proposed and would proceed as planned.
Furthermore, Xi Jinping, who would be due to step down as president in 2023, defied the tradition of presenting a potential successor during last October's Communist Party Congress.
Instead, he combined his political power as the party voted to preserve his name and political ideology in the party's constitution, thus heightening his status to the level of its founder, Chairman Mao.
On paper, the Congress is the most powerful legislative body in China - similar to the parliament in other nations. However, it was vastly believed by others that it would only approve what it was told to do by whoever is in position.
It was only five years ago when Beijing was being ruled by a collective leadership. Under the ex-President Hu Jintao, a person could imagine differing views being expressed in the then nine-member Politburo Standing Committee.
Furthermore, there was a feeling that Hu needed to please various factions within the Communist Party because each time a new leader is elected, they bring in new people in a hope to introduce smoother transition.
Prior to the new revision, the constitution was already altered before to allow President Xi to remain as president after his first two terms.
When asked about the new changes, the Chinese public are mostly supported over the new ruling. However, there are still some skeptical to the possible implications of the vote to the country.
