Elections for top leadership posts begin at NPC

The nominees for China’s president and premier were announced at the National People’s Congress session yesterday to stand for election, AFP reported. The nomination lists were given to the nearly 3,000 delegates at the NPC for "discussion and consultation." The legislature will elect a president, vice president and a legislature head on Saturday. President Hu Jintao will almost certainly be elected for a second five-year term. He is expected to nominate Premier Wen Jiabao for a second term as well. Hu is expected to be re-elected as chairman of the Central Military Commission, or head of the armed forces. According to unnamed sources cited by AFP, only one person stands for each post in top Chinese elections. Xi Jinping, who was named to the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee last October, could be elected vice president, which would make him Hu’s successor as president in 2013.