Hu Jintao re-elected Chinese president

Hu Jintao, China's ruling party chief, was on Saturday re-elected President for a second five-year term in an overwhelming vote by the Communist giant's Parliament that also sealed the appointment of his likely successor Xi Jinping as Vice President.

The confirmation of the top Chinese leadership for the next five years came as Tibetan capital Lhasa witnessed the fiercest pro-independence street protests in two decades leading to rioting that left at least 10 people dead in the remote Himalayan region on Friday.

China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, also re-confirmed Hu, the former Communist Party of China Secretary for Tibet, as head of the Central Military Commission, a powerful organ which controls the two million-plus Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Sixty-five-year old Hu was the only candidate for the Presidency. He received 99.7 per cent of the vote cast by the delegates at the annual session of Parliament.

He was chosen for a second-five year term by the CPC in October as its General Secretary, a position that automatically takes the incumbent to the Presidency. Saturday's election only cements the formality.

As widely expected, 54-year-old rising political star Xi, a former Shanghai CPC boss and son of a former Vice Premier, was chosen for the Vice President's post, a largely ceremonial role, a position Hu occupied in 1998 before his ascent to the presidency. Xi received 98.5 per cent votes.

Xi, a doctorate holder in law and chemical engineering graduate, saw a meteoric rise in the ranks of the ruling CPC as he was propelled to the inner sanctum of the party in six months from the position of Shanghai boss when he was made a member of the Politburo Standing Committee in October 2007.

He was reportedly not the first choice of Hu to be the apparent heir but emerged as a compromise" candidate in the opaque backroom CPC politics at the October CPC National Congress.

Wu Bangguo was also re-elected as Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, an equivalent of the Speaker's post, who is second in the Communist party hierarchy.

Hu was elevated by the CPC last October to the status of pantheon of leaders like "Chairman" Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin by enshrining in the party Constitution his pet vision of "Scientific Outlook on Development" to ensure a balanced and sustainable development and mitigate the sufferings of millions of poor Chinese peasants.

Technocrat-turned-politician and media-shy Hu is considered a man of ideas with focus on reducing the gap between the rich and the poor and is credited with presiding over the breakneck economic growth of China with a double-digit rise for five years.

Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao are perceived to be close to the masses.

The ball for leadership change was set rolling on Wednesday with the candidate name list unveiled to the deputies.