First Vietnamese woman appointed Hanoi’s Party chief

Bui Thi Minh Hoai, head of the Party’s Central Mass Mobilization Commission, an advisory body to the Party Central Committee which is responsible for public security and public relations, will become the first woman to take the position as Hanoi’s Party leader, according to the Politburo’s decision announced on Wednesday.

Hoai, 59, will leave her position at the commission and stop her work at the Party’s Secretariate to focus on her new job for the 2020-2025 term.

Hoai, a native of Ha Nam Province, which borders Hanoi, holds a master’s degree in law. She has been a member of the Party Central Committee since 2011 and a member of the Politburo since 2021.

Her political career started as an inspector in the northern province of Nam Dinh, before moving on to different inspection and Party administration positions in Ha Nam.

She then worked for 10 years as vice chairwoman of the Party’s Central Inspection Commission.

The Politburo last month agreed for Dinh Tien Dung to resign from his post as Hanoi’s Party leader. The Politburo and the Secretariat saw that the Party Committee of the Ministry of Finance for the 2016-2021 term, with Dung as minister, had violated democratic centralism principles, as well as Party regulations. It had been negligent, allowing the ministry and certain Party organizations and members to violate Party regulations and the law.

The Hanoi’s Party leader position has seen three changes since the beginning of the term in 2020. Then then Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue took the job in February 2020 in replacement of Hoang Trung Hai. Dung took over in April 2021 after Hue was elected chairman of the National Assembly.