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BEIJING: The nominees for China's president and prime minister were unveiled to the national parliament on Wednesday, state media said, kicking off the nation's communist-style election process.
The nomination lists were handed over to the nearly 3,000 delegates at the ongoing National People's Congress for "discussion and consultation", Xinhua news agency said of the nation's opaque political process.
On Saturday, the annual parliament will elect a president, vice president and parliament head, while delegates will rubber stamp the nomination for prime minister on Sunday.
President Hu Jintao is almost certain to be elected to a second five-year term and is expected to re-nominate Wen Jiabao as his prime minister, or premier, sources with knowledge of communist politics here said.
Although Xinhua did not name any of the nominees, the postings were approved in Communist Party election lists handed over to the congress before the current session opened last week.
In top Chinese elections, only one person stands for each post, the sources said.
On Saturday, Hu is also expected to be re-elected to a second term as chairman of the Central Military Commission or the commander-in-chief of China's military forces.
Analysts were closely watching to see if rising political star Xi Jinping will be elected as vice president.
If so, he would be first in line to take over Hu's post as head of the Communist Party and president respectively in 2012 and 2013.
Xi was named to the party's powerful nine-member Politburo Standing Committee at a five-yearly party congress in October last year.
China's ruling Communist Party has held a stranglehold over the nation's politics, government and military affairs since 1949 and has shown few signs of undertaking any reforms that would erode its power.
"The National People's Congress must conscientiously uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China to ensure that the proposals of the party become the will of the state," current parliamentary head Wu Bangguo said in a speech Saturday.
The NPC must ensure "that the personnel recommended by party organisations become the leaders of the organs of state power," he said. - AFP/ac/de
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