Vietnam Communist Party introduces presidential candidate

The National Assembly will hold a meeting later to formally elect the president for the 2021-2026 term.

According to Vietnamese Constitution 2013, the president is head of state, representing the country in internal and external affairs. The constitution rules that the president is elected by the National Assembly among the assemby’s members.

The Party’s introduction of a presidential candidate came weeks after former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc stepped down.

On Jan. 17, the Central Party Committee agreed to let Phuc stop serving as a member of the Politburo and the committee, Vietnam’s president and chairman of the Council for National Defense and Security of the 2021-2026 term, upon his resignation request.

A day later, the National Assembly formally dismissed Phuc from his positions, and appointed then Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan as the interim president.

Phuc left his seat at the age of 69, following nearly two years serving as Vietnam’s head of state. He said he felt responsible for letting several officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, commit violations that caused severe consequences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two deputy prime ministers, Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam, were dismissed at a National Assembly extraordinary meeting on Jan. 5.

Two former ministers, Nguyen Thanh Long and Chu Ngoc Anh, and several other officials, are facing criminal charges for involvement in a Covid-19 test kit scandal.