China’s premier offered the first formal justification to scrap the 10-year presidential term limit, declaring that the proposal resulted from a “unanimous appeal” from grassroots elements of the Communist party and Chinese society.
The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp-parliament, is expected to ratify the proposal at an annual session that opened on Monday in Beijing. The plan shocked observers when it was first announced last month and signalled that President Xi Jinping had consolidated power to a degree unprecedented since paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.
“In the process of soliciting opinions and conducting grassroots investigation and research, many regions, sectors and numerous party cadres unanimously appealed for amending the constitution,” according to a rundown of proposed constitutional amendments circulated to delegates and reporters.