China's parliament approves constitutional amendment allowing Xi Jinping to stay in office for life

China's parliament on Sunday passed a constitutional amendment allowing President Xi Jinping to remain in the presidency for life, and to include the "Xi Jinping Thought" in the country's law as well as the "leading role" of the Chinese Communist Party in its first article.

Members of China's National People's Assembly (parliament), about 3,000, Sunday passed a closed-door session to allow President Xi Jinping to continue to lead the country for life.

Under the constitutional amendment, which was approved by 2958 votes and opposed by two deputies and three abstentions, the article limiting the number of presidential mandates to two, each of five years
The constitutional amendment will also allow the inclusion of "Xi Jinping Thought" in the Constitution as well as the "leadership role" of the CPC in its first article. Since taking command of the Chinese Communist Party at the end of 2012 and then the head of state in early 2013, Shi strengthened the regime's authority.

The number of presidential mandates was set at two in the 1982 Constitution under Deng Xiaoping to avoid any return to the dictatorial rule of Mao Zedong (1949-1976).