In a rare outing, Chinese President Xi Jinping cast his ballot at a polling station in Beijing on Friday to elect deputies to a local people’s congress.
President Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, voted at the Huairentang polling station of the Zhongnanhai electoral district in Xicheng District to elect deputies to the Xicheng district people’s congress.
Zhongnanhai is regarded as the seat of power and the nerve centre of the ruling Communist Party of China, as Xi and other top leaders reside in a highly guarded imperial residential complex located adjacent to the historic Forbidden City.
China has local, provincial and national legislatures, but most of the elected candidates are from the ranks of the ruling Communist Party or endorsed by it, as China practices a one-party system with the notional presence of some political parties approved by the CPC. The Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, the highest organ of state power in China’s capital, is the provincial-level legislature responsible for deliberating and approving major economic, social and administrative policies governing the municipality.
It is part of China’s multi-tier People’s Congress system, headed by the National People’s Congress (NPC). The Congress term is five years.