Shenzhen party boss Huang Liman, a protege of former president Jiang Zemin, was elected chairman of the Guangdong People's Congress, by an overwhelming majority of 740 votes, congress officials announced yesterday.
Only seven people opposed the election of Ms Huang, while 10 deputies abstained. She was the office manager with the former Electronics Industry Ministry when Mr Jiang was its party chief.
Analysts said the election results showed that Ms Huang - who accompanied Mr Jiang to an opera show last year instead of attending the opening of the Guangdong People's Congress - had weathered recent embarrassments in Shenzhen.
The troubles included disappointing passenger numbers on the new Shenzhen metro after a chaotic opening in December.
A more serious problem was when Shenzhen deputy party secretary Li Yizhen , who is aligned to Ms Huang, was censured last year.
That happened after the local authorities forced students to buy tickets to watch a movie produced by his daughter.