With Du Lam, Vietnam gets a president from a security apparatus

After months of fluctuation at the top of power, the inauguration of General Du Lam (Police), the current Minister of Public Security (Police), as Vietnam’s president is, by all appearances, a landmark move. In the bitter power struggles that monopolized this single-party rule in recent years. Ambitious and powerful Mr. Lam, in this case, looks set to emerge as a clear winner: he was elected by the National Assembly on Wednesday, May 22, after being nominated by the party. State television reported that 472 out of 473 delegates approved the selection in a secret ballot.

Vietnam has been without a president since March, following the sudden resignation of Vo Van Tuong. However, he already “resigned” after a year instead of a predecessor, in this highly symbolic position, which actually corresponds to the second rank in the party-state hierarchy: the supreme power in Vietnam is held by the general. Nguyen Phu Trong, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), has been in office since 2011.

At the end of April, it was the turn of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Voong Dinh Hue, the fourth “pillar” of the party-state, to throw in the towel. He was followed on May 16 by Truong Thi Mai, the only female member of the Politburo, the PCV’s leading body. It now has only twelve members instead of eighteen following successive resignations from the 2021 Congress at its apex – an unprecedented haemorrhage in its history. Besides With Lam as the country’s president, the CPV Central Committee recommended changes to other political offices and state vacancies. The latter are then “elected” by the National Assembly – a formality in this one-party system.

“Organize Power Contests”

All these leaders officially resign in the name of mystery “Violations and Defects” In the administration of the country’s affairs, few will have it “had a negative impact on public opinion” And “Damaged the reputation of the party, the state and themselves” : In common parlance, their exit equates to an honorable and negotiated exit from corruption cases that directly or indirectly affect them. There is no shortage of these, however: hundreds of party officials, but also rich and famous entrepreneurs, have been strongly condemned since the PCV’s number one, Nguyen Phu Trong, launched a sweeping anti-corruption program in 2016. Propaganda and “discipline” The party, known as the “Burning Furnace,” is based on a model carried by its Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in China since 2013.

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