Politics of Vietnam

Politics of Vietnam

Chính trị Việt Nam
Polity typeUnitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic
ConstitutionConstitution of Vietnam
Legislative branch
NameNational Assembly
TypeUnicameral
Meeting placeNational Assembly Building of Vietnam
Presiding officerTrần Thanh Mẫn, Chairman of the National Assembly.
Executive branch
Supreme leader
TitleGeneral Secretary
CurrentlyTô Lâm
AppointerCentral Committee
Head of state
TitlePresident
CurrentlyLương Cường
AppointerNational Assembly
Head of government
TitlePrime Minister
CurrentlyPhạm Minh Chính
AppointerNational Assembly
Cabinet
NameGovernment of Vietnam
Current cabinetChính government
LeaderPrime Minister
Deputy leaderFirst Deputy Prime Minister
AppointerNational Assembly
HeadquartersPresidential Palace
Ministries18
Judicial branch
NameJudicial system
Supreme People's Court
Chief judgeNguyễn Hòa Bình
Supreme People's Procuracy
Chief judgeLê Minh Trí

The politics of Vietnam is dominated by a single party under an authoritarian system, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The President of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước) 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 highest position in the Vietnamese politics.

Executive power is exercised by the government and the President of Vietnam. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly of Vietnam (Quốc hội Việt Nam). The Judiciary is independent of the executive. The parliament adopted the current Constitution of Vietnam, Vietnam's fifth, on 28 November 2013.

Vietnam's current authoritarian government inherits elements from its totalitarian system that existed before 1986, with the freedom of assembly, association, expression, press and religion as well as civil society activism being tightly restricted.[1][2] There are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all religious activity is controlled by the CPV, dissent is not permitted, and civil rights are curtailed. Elections in Vietnam occur under a single-party authoritarian political system. Vietnam is among the few contemporary party-led dictatorships to not hold any direct multiparty elections at the national level. The competitive nature of the elections is highly constrained by the Communist Party's monopoly on power in Vietnam, limitations on free speech, and government interference with the elections.[3]

The National Assembly is a rubber stamp unicameral legislative body. The National Assembly has 500 members, indirectly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The legislature is, according to the constitution, the highest organ of the state. Its powers includes the enactment and amendment of the constitution and laws; the adoption of the government budget; supervising the Government of Vietnam and other holders of public powers responsible to the National Assembly; and appointing members of the judiciary. The Vietnamese constitution and legislation provides for regular elections for the office of the President of the Socialist Republic, the National Assembly and the People's Councils.

The President is elected by National Assembly for a five-year term and acts as the de jure commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security. However, the president has the right to decide on executive brands. The government (Chính phủ), the main executive state power of Vietnam, is headed by the Prime Minister, who has several Deputy Prime Ministers and several ministers in charge of particular activities. The executive branch is responsible for the implementation of political, economic, cultural, social, national defence, security and external activities of the state.

Vietnam has a judicial system governed by the Constitution of Vietnam and national legislation enacted by National Assembly. The Supreme People's Court (Tòa án Nhân dân Tối cao) is the highest court of appeal in Vietnam. There are other specialised courts in Vietnam, including the Central Military Court, the Criminal Court, the Civil Court and the Appeal Court. The Supreme People's Procuracy observes the implementation of state organs and makes sure that Vietnamese citizens follow the law.[4]

  1. ^ Nguyen, Thuy (2022). "Exploiting Ideology and Making Higher Education Serve Vietnam's Authoritarian Regime". Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 55 (4): 83–104. doi:10.1525/cpcs.2022.1819231.
  2. ^ "Vietnam: Country Profile". Freedom House. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Vietnam" (PDF). state.gov. U.S. State Department. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  4. ^ "CONSTITUTION AND POLITICAL SYSTEM". Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States of America.