Communist Party of China’s No. 3 official Zhao Leji was elected chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Friday, replacing Li Zhanshu as the country’s top legislator.
Nearly 3,000 lawmakers elected Zhao, the third-highest ranking member of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee, to the new post at the ongoing annual session of the national legislature.
Zhao will spend the next five years leading China’s legislature, which is responsible for overseeing the State Council, electing top leaders such as the president and premier, and amending legislation including the Chinese Constitution and Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
The 66-year-old joined the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, in October following the 20th national party congress.
The lawmakers also elected 14 vice chairs of the NPC Standing Committee, including Li Hongzhong, a Politburo member and former party chief of Tianjin, and Ding Zhongli, who was re-elected from the previous committee and once served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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