Party done electing delegates for congress

China's Communist Party said yesterday that it had elected all the delegates attending the key political meeting starting October 16, where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term.

The twice-in-a-decade conclave will also see a shuffle of personnel on the party's powerful decision-making body, the 25-member Politburo.

"Each electoral unit across the country convened a party congress or party representative meeting and elected 2,296 delegates to the 20th Party Congress," state broadcaster CCTV said.

The representatives include women, ethnic minority party members and those specializing in various fields, such as economics, science and sports, CCTV said.

The congress in Beijing comes as Xi faces significant political headwinds, including an ailing economy, deteriorating relations with the United States and a strict zero-Covid policy that has accelerated China's inward turn from the world.

The nearly 2,300 delegates will pick members of the party's Central Committee.

And they will then vote for the 25-person Politburo and its all-powerful Standing Committee.

Xi's decade-long tenure has seen crackdowns on corruption, repressive policies in Xinjiang region, as well as the crushing of a democracy movement in Hong Kong.

He abolished the presidential two-term limit in 2018, leaving open the possibility of him becoming leader for life.