China's parliament on Sunday overwhelmingly endorsed a controversial change to the country's constitution, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, CNN reports. According to the report, nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC) who gathered inside Beijing's Great Hall of the People cast their ballots on a series of proposed amendments -- including removing the restriction that had limited the presidency to two consecutive five-year terms.
Out of 2,964 ballots, just two delegates voted against the move and three abstained, suggesting minimal opposition to Xi's push to rule for life. The amendments' passage required two thirds of the vote.
The ruling Communist Party announced the proposals on February 25 and, amid a backlash in some quarters, has justified the change as a necessity to align the presidency with Xi's two other, more powerful, posts heads of the party and the military that have no term limits.
Meanwhile, Li Datong, a former editor of the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper and one of the few voices of open opposition who has criticized the amendment said;
"He just dug a huge hole for himself. The top leader's term limits are the biggest common denominator shared by all political forces in China. Its removal could trigger political infighting that's why this move is dangerous."
