The National People's Congress yesterday re-elected Wen Jiabao as premier for a second five-year term, and promoted two new men to become the country's top judge and procurator. Mr Wen, 65, ranked third in the Communist Party hierarchy, received 2,926 votes for, 21 against and 12 abstentions. He will hold a news conference tomorrow after the NPC ends its session. The premier is expected to answer some tough questions as the nation faces a host of challenges. Large-scale unrest has broken out in Tibet , bringing the area under international scrutiny, and inflation climbed to 8.7 per cent in February, the highest in a decade. The NPC yesterday also announced leadership changes in the judiciary system and in the army. Wang Shengjun was elected president of the Supreme People's Court, while Cao Jianming was elected procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. People's Liberation Army Generals Xu Caihou and Guo Bo- xiong were elected vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission - the supreme command unit in the PLA. Generals Liang Guanglie , Chen Bingde , Li Jinai , Liao Xilong , Chang Wanquan , Jing Zhiyuan , Wu Shengli and Xu Qiliang were approved as CMC members. Yesterday's appointments of military leaders were just a matter of formality. The formation of the national CMC always conforms with the party's selections and the party had already chosen the commission members during its congress last October. As expected, next-generation leader Xi Jinping was not named a vice-chairman of the military commission, as he was not made vice-chairman of the party's central military commission in October. Mr Xi, who was elected vice-president on Saturday, appears to be following a fast-tracked version of President Hu's own path to the top. Mr Hu's went from being a party secretariat member to head of the Central Party School to vice-president in about five years. Analysts expect a similar career path for Mr Xi.
