Web Sites Block Reporting and Discussion of Xi Jinping's Election Results

Phoenix News reports there was one vote against Xi Jinping

On March 15, 2013, the state-sponsored China Daily published an English language article entitled "Xi Chosen as President of China." An excerpt:

Nearly 3,000 deputies to the National People's Congress elected Xi Jinping, leader of the ruling Communist Party of China, as president through a secret ballot at a plenary meeting in Beijing on March 14. 

The elevation of Xi to the presidency marked the official transfer of power from Hu Jintao.
Xi took over as the head of the Communist Party and its military commission from Hu at a quinquennial Party congress in November last year.

The same day, the state-sponsored Global Times published an English language article entitled "President Xi Takes Reins." An excerpt:

China's top legislature Thursday elected Xi Jinping as president of the country, capping off his appointments as chief of the Party, state and military following a once-in-a-decade leadership transition. 

Nearly 3,000 deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) voted for Xi, 59, who was also elected chairman of the country's Central Military Commission.

Neither article explained what "nearly 3,000" meant. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua's report also made no mention of Xi's margin of victory, or whether there were votes against him.

These screenshots, taken on March 15, shows that within hours of the announcement Sina Weibo began censoring searches for "voted against." (反对票)

Various foreign media outlets reported, however, that 2,952 delegates voted in favor of Xi, and only 1 against, with 3 abstentions, and that this 99.86% margin was slightly greater than the 97.62 per cent won by Bashar al-Assad's 97.62% margin in Syria in 2007, but shy of Kim Jong-il's 99.98% in North Korea in 2009.

This screenshot, also taken on March 15, shows that Sina Weibo was also censoring searches for "2,952 votes." (2,952票)

This screenshot, also taken on March 15, shows that a search on Baidu News for "Xi Jinping 2,952" (习近平 2,952) returned no results.

Finally, this screenshot, also taken on March 15, shows that Phoenix News had removed an article entitled "Xi Jinping Gets 99.86% of the Vote, Li Yuanchao Gets 96%" (习近平得票率为99.86% 李源潮得票率为96%) which was originally available at this URL - http://v.ifeng.com/news/mainland/201303/1eccdfb2-e624-441e-b0d3-e17b536a8d69.shtml - now redirects users to a 404 Page Not Found error message.