Live updates: Closing session of China's Communist Party congress

Sources confirmed to the Post that despite the high number of "nay" votes he received, Ling Jihua, director of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department and an ally to outgoing leader Hu Jintao, was elected to the 200-strong central committee of the Party. Ling received 94 "nay" votes in today's vote, among the highest number of nays any candidate received from more than 2,000 Party Congress delegates.

Updated at 3:10pm

Li Gang, deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, said Beijing was not worried about a potential movement towards independence in the special administrative region.  "This is a petty trick put together by a small group of people," he said. 

Li also said he wasn't sure if incoming leader Xi Jinping, whose porfolio of responsibilities as vice-president has included overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs, would continue to do so. "It remains to be seen," Li said. 

Updated 1.50pm

Zhang Qinsheng, the PLA's deputy chief of general staff, told reporters that President Hu Jintao would not stay on as chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Committee, confirming an earlier 

report by SCMP saying Hu would retire both as the Party's general secretary and top military commander at the end of the Party Congress.

Ling Jihua, an ally of outgoing leader Hu Jintao, received 94 "nay" votes, among the highest number of nays any candidate received from more than 2,000 delegates, but it remains unclear whether they were enough votes to secure him a spot on the new Communist Party Central Committee, according to delegates who spoke to SCMP on the sidelines of the party congress. 

Zhang Hongliang, a professor at Minzu University of China and active leftist commentator on social media, couldn’t help but wonder about the “live” footage of the closing ceremony by state broadcaster China Central Television:

“What interesting live coverage? There was not a single live shot in the three-hour live broadcast. It was guest analysts talking all the way through. This must be an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of live television.”