President · NPC selection
China elections · 2003-03-15 · held
Hu Jintao was elected president of the People’s Republic of China by the National People’s Congress. This was an indirect state-office selection, not a nationwide popular presidential election.
Indirect election — selection through an electoral body rather than a direct national popular vote. The record notes explain the selection process.
Related elections
Results: final · partial coverage · NPC selection of the state president; any figures are approval ballots, not popular votes
| Party / candidate | Elector ballots | Elector ballot share | Seats | Electoral votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hu Jintao | 2937 | — | — | — |
Our archive covers the national institutions of the People’s Republic of China. It does not include Republic of China elections or separate Hong Kong or Macao contests. National NPC totals retain the institution’s own delegations, including special administrative region delegations where applicable and its mainland-selected Taiwan delegation; this is not a record of elections conducted by Taiwan’s electorate.
The state presidency is distinct from the Communist Party general secretary, party chairman, NPC Standing Committee chair and Central Military Commission offices. Our table records the elected state president only, not simultaneous selections for those offices or for vice president. Mao’s 1949 selection as Central People’s Government chairman was a different office and is not relabelled as a presidential election.
No candidate-specific ideology attribution has been added without a reviewed source. Missing ballot figures are unknown, not zero. The country’s current legitimacy assessment is available on our country timeline and atlas; it is not backdated as an observer verdict on these historical selections.
Contemporary reporting records 2,937 presidential approval ballots. Seven ballots were reported together as opposition or abstention; no split is inferred. Approval share is left unentered because a complete denominator including write-ins and invalid ballots has not been verified. Session attendance is not substituted for ballots cast.
Sources & further reading
China Daily: contemporary report of Hu Jintao’s election, 15 March 2003
People’s Daily / CPC: state-presidency history and officeholders
VOA: contemporary presidential count, 2,937 approvals and seven opposition or abstention ballots