The politics of Vietnam is dominated by a single party under an authoritarian system, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The President of Vietnam is the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Vietnam is the head of government. Both of these offices are separate from the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who leads the CPV and is head of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission. The General Secretary is thus the de facto supreme leader of Vietnam. Executive power is exercised by the government and the President of Vietnam. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of Vietnam. The Judiciary is independent of the executive. The parliament adopted the current Constitution of Vietnam, Vietnam's fifth, on 28 November 2013.
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government following the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Although it nominally exists alongside the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, it maintains a unitary government and has centralized control over the state, military, and media. The supremacy of the CPV is guaranteed by Article 4 of the national constitution. The Vietnamese public generally refer to the CPV as simply "the Party" or "our Party".
The president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of state of Vietnam, elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam from its delegates. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, candidates for the post are nominated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The officeholder is generally considered to hold the second-highest position in the political system, practically after the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Elections in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam occur under a one-party political system led by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Direct elections occurred at both the local and national levels to elect members of the People's Councils and the National Assembly, with all candidate nominations pre-approved by the CPV-led Vietnamese Fatherland Front. Elections serve the purposes of information acquisition and cooptation rather than popularity contest but still remain of significance to the political life and legitimacy of the Vietnamese party-state.
The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the unicameral parliament and the highest body of state power of Vietnam. The National Assembly is the only branch of government in Vietnam and, in accordance with the principle of unified power, all state organs are subservient to it.
The 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam was held in Ba Đình Hall, Hanoi from 18 to 25 April 2006. The congress occurs every five years. 1,176 delegates represented the party's 3 million members. At the 13th plenum of the Central Committee, held before the congress, it was decided that eight members of the Communist Party's 9th Politburo had to retire. While certain segments within and outside the Politburo were skeptical, the decision was implemented. Because of party rules, the congress was not empowered to elect the general secretary, and it held a survey on whom the delegates wanted to be appointed General Secretary. The first plenum of the Central Committee, held in the immediate aftermath of the congress, re-elected Nông Đức Mạnh as general secretary.
Nguyễn Phú Trọng is a Vietnamese politician who has served as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam since 2011. As the head of the party's Secretariat, Politburo and Central Military Commission, Trọng is Vietnam's paramount leader. He also previously served as president of Vietnam from 2018 to 2021.
The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam ,[note_5] formerly designated as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam from 1946 to 1981, is the legislative speaker of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, presiding over the National Assembly. The National Assembly is, in the words of the constitution, "the highest representative organ of the people; the highest organ of state power".
National Assembly elections were held in areas controlled by North Vietnam on 6 January 1946. Held under the 1946 constitution, they resulted in a victory for the Communist-led Việt Minh, which won 182 of the 302 seats, although the distribution of seats between parties had been decided before the elections. The ballot was not secret and ballot papers were filled out in the presence of aides who were "to help comrades who had difficulty in making out their ballots."
Parliamentary elections were held in South Vietnam on 27 September 1963. All but three of the 123 seats in the National Assembly were won by President Ngo Dinh Diem's regime. Three seats were won by the opposition Vietnamese Democratic Socialist Party and the Đại Việt Progressive Party. As the elections took place during the Buddhist crisis, the government allowed elements of the opposition to stand during the elections as one of the concessions to Buddhist protest leaders. However, due to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup, the National Assembly was not able to convene for its first inaugural session and was forced to dissolve by the military.
Parliamentary elections were held in Vietnam on 19 July 1992. The Communist Party of Vietnam was the only party to contest the election, although independent candidates were also allowed, but must be affiliated with the Vietnamese Fatherland Front. Non-affiliated candidates were allowed to run for the first time in this election. While the VFF nominated 599 candidates, there were only two independents. The VFF won all 395 seats.
Parliamentary elections were held in Vietnam on 19 May 2002. A total of 759 candidates, including 125 independents, contested the election. The Vietnamese Fatherland Front was the only organisation to nominate candidates, with 634 coming from the Communist Party of Vietnam and 125 being non-party members. The Communist Party won 447 of the 498 seats. Voter turnout was reported to be over 99%.
The 9th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 9th Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá IX), was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 9th Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of the 9th National Congress.
The 10th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 10th Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of the 10th National Congress.
The 8th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 8th Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá VIII), was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of the 8th National Congress.
The 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam was held in Ba Đình Hall, Hanoi from 19 to 22 April 2001. The congress occurs once every five years. A total of 1,168 delegates represented the party's 2,479,719 card-carrying members.
The 15th National Assembly of Vietnam is a parliamentary cycle that commenced in July 2021 following the legislative elections on 23 May 2021. The National Assembly has 499 members, formally confirmed at the 8th meeting of the National Election Council on 12 July 2021.
The 10th Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 10th Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Ban Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá X), was partly elected by a decision of the 10th Politburo and partly elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee (CC) in the immediate aftermath of the 10th National Congress.
The 9th Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 9th Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Ban Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá IX), was partly elected by a decision of the 9th Politburo and partly elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the 9th Central Committee (CC) in the immediate aftermath of the 9th National Congress.
The 8th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), formally the 8th Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Thường vụ Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá VIII), was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of the 8th National Congress.
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