Vo Van Thuong nominated as Vietnam’s next president

The assembly is holding an extraordinary meeting Thursday morning to elect the president, after the Communist Party’s Central Committee introduced a candidate the previous day.

The new president’s swearing-in ceremony is expected to be aired live from the National Assembly Building in Hanoi from 10-11 a.m. Thursday.

(Front row, from L) National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Communist Party’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Party’s Secretariat Standing Member Vo Van Thuong attend the National Assembly’s extraordinary meeting in Hanoi, March 2, 2023. Photo by Hoang Phong

Thuong, 53, is the youngest member of the Party’s Politburo, the country’s highest decision-making body, and also the youngest standing member of the Party’s Secretariat since 1976.

Born in the southern province of Vinh Long, he holds a master’s degree in philosophy.

Thuong formerly served as the Party Secretary of HCMC’s District 12 for two years starting in 2004.

In 2006, he was appointed by the Politburo to be the Standing Secretary of the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

In August 2011, he became Party Secretary of the central province of Quang Ngai. Three years later, he took the position of Ho Chi Minh City’s Deputy Party Secretary. He was reelected to the position in October 2015.

He joined the Politburo in January 2016, becoming its youngest member, and was then assigned the position of Head of the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party.

Thuong’s introduction into the presidential seat came weeks after his predecessor 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 dismissed Phuc from his positions, per his request, 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 of serving as Vietnam’s head of state.