Xi votes in local legislative elections

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping cast his ballot at a polling station in Beijing on Tuesday to elect new deputies to the local people's congress.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, also cast their votes at polling stations in Beijing.

Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao voted by proxy.

Xi cast his vote at a polling station in Huairentang, Zhongnanhai electoral district in Xicheng District of Beijing, along with over 1,200 other voters.

Around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Xi arrived at the polling station, gave his elector's card to staff and got a ballot. He cast his ballot after filling it.

Xi said the county and township-level election is a major political event of the country, requiring adherence to the Party's leadership, democratic spirit and acting in accordance with laws, to ensure the people's right to vote and the right to be elected.

He called for a zero-tolerance attitude toward electoral misconduct.

Other senior officials and retired officials of the CPC Central Committee, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee and the Central Military Commission, also voted either in person or by proxy.

About 9 million people cast their ballots at a total of 12,270 polling stations in Beijing on Tuesday, to elect 4,373 new deputies to the people's congresses of district level, and 9,946 deputies to township-level people's congresses in Beijing.