Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao bow out of ruling Communist Party of China

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao bowed out of the top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday after a 10-year stint in power, as the party's key Congress wrapped up its meeting after electing a new set of younger leaders, including Xi Jinping.

Xi, 59, is widely tipped to take over as the new president on Thursday.

Bidding farewell at the end of the weeklong 18th party Congress, Hu, who is credited to have improved Sino-Indian relations in the last decade, said the Congress elected a new central committee of the party and replaced older leaders with younger ones.

The Congress, which met at Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, concluded after electing over 300 members to the central committee, the main policy making body of the world's largest political party, with 82.3 million members.

Much on the expected lines, all top leaders, including Xi, Li Keqiang, who is officially projected to succeed Wen as Premier, and several senior leaders, including the lone woman, Lu Yandong, were elected to the new central committee. The committee, in turn, will on Thursday elect a 25-member politburo which will then choose the all-power standing committee.

The outgoing standing committee, forming the basis for the party's policy of collective leadership, consisted of nine members, including Hu and Wen. The duo would relinquish the party posts on Thursday but would continue in office as China's President and Premier respectively, till March next year.

On the face of it, the leadership transition in the faction-ridden 92-year-old CPC went off smoothly as the party leaders successfully purged the supporters of hardline Maoist leader Bo Xilai in the run up to the Congress.