The Chinese President enters the position by way of consensus appointment performed by the National People’s Congress.
During the session of the National People’s Congress, a presidium shall be selected to chair the session. Candidates for deputies to the National People’s Congresses shall be nominated on the basis of electoral districts or electoral units. Each party or people’s organization may jointly or solely recommend deputy candidates. Ten or more voters or deputies may also jointly recommend deputy candidates. Deputies to the National People’s Congress shall be elected by the people’s congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and by the People’s Liberation Army. The number of deputies to the National People’s Congress shall not exceed 3,000.
The election of deputies to the NPC and the local people’s congresses shall be conducted by secret ballot with no exception. Facilities for confidential ballot writing shall be provided when election is under way. When balloting has been concluded, scrutineers and vote counters elected by the voters or deputies, and members of the presidium of the people’s congress shall check the number of people who voted against the number of votes cast and make a record of it; the record shall be signed by the scrutineers.
After deputies to the National People’s Congress have been elected, their credentials shall be examined by the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Based on the reports submitted by the Credentials Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall affirm the qualifications of deputies or invalidate the election of individual deputies, and shall publish the list of affirmed deputies prior to the first session of each National People’s Congress.
Candidates for the President of the People’s Republic of China shall be nominated by the Presidium which, after consultation among the various delegations, shall decide upon a formal list of candidates, based on the opinion of the majority of deputies. At sessions of the National People’s Congress, elections may be conducted and bills may be passed by secret ballot, by a show of hands or by any other form as decided by the Presidium.
The general process for appointing the President, the individual who is going to serve as the President must be a citizen of the people’s Republic of China and have the nationality of the people’s Republic of China; Must have the right to vote and the right to be elected; Must be over 45 years of age.
The President of the People’s Republic of China exercise their functions and powers until a new president elected by the subsequent National People’s Congress assume office. In the latest Amendment to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, in the third paragraph of Article 79 of the Constitution, the sentence, reading “the terms of office for the President and Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China are the same as those of the deputies to the National People’s Congress; presidents and vice-presidents shall serve no more than two consecutive terms”, is revised to read “the terms of office for the President and Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China are the same as those of the deputies to the National People’s Congress”.
Thus, currently, there is no term limitation on the President of the People’s Republic of China.
In certain situations, the President may choose to delegate the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China exercises relevant presidential functions and powers. In the event that the office of the President of the People’s Republic of China is left vacant, the vice-president succeeds to the office of the president. In the event that the office of the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China is left vacant, the National People’s Congress shall elect a new vice-president to fill the vacancy. In the event that the both the office of the President and the office of the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China are left vacant, the National People’s Congress shall elect a new president and a new vice-president. Prior to the election, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall provisionally assume the duties of president.