Vietnam to nominate new State President in early April

	Party General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong
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Incumbent PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has been introduced to run for the new State President.Photo: VOV

Besides routine work, including legislation and preparations for the upcoming National Assembly and grassroots-level People Council’s elections, the NA session is set to spend seven days deciding on key personnel in the State apparatus, said Vu Minh Tuan, vice chairman of the NA Office, according to the VOV.

NA deputies are scheduled to elect a new Chairperson of the legislative body on March 31, a new State President on April 2 and a new Prime Minister on April 5.

The new State, Government and National Assembly will be sworn in shortly after they are elected.

The NA will dismiss the incumbent State President, Prime Minister and Chairperson of the NA before the voting.

Currently, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong concurrently holds the position of the State President, while Nguyen Xuan Phuc is Prime Minister of Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan holds the post as the legislature chief.

For the first time, incumbent PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has been introduced to run for the new State President.

Vietnamese people will cast their ballots this May in order to elect 500 deputies to the new NA for the 2021-2026 tenure. On the same day, they will also elect deputies to the grassroots-level People’s Councils.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at a conference in Can Tho in March 2021. Photo by Vietnam Government Portal.

The upcoming parliament meeting will see, for the first time, a sitting prime minister nominated for the state president position.

At the next National Assembly session, scheduled to last 12 days starting Wednesday, Vietnam's parliament will cast votes for 25 leading positions, including NA chairperson, state president and prime minister – three of the four political pillars of the nation, the other being the Party General Secretary, which is being held by Nguyen Phu Trong for the third term as decided by the 13th Communist Party Central Committee last January.

As of now, it has been confirmed that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 66, will be introduced as a presidential candidate, Nguyen Hanh Phuc, the NA General Secretary, told the media Tuesday.

He did not reveal further information about candidates for other positions.

The state president is the country's top representative in both internal and external affairs; and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Party chief Trong has held this position since 2018 after his predecessor Tran Dai Quang died of illness.

Asked how many candidates will be introduced for each of the main positions, Nguyen Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of Delegate Affairs under the NA Standing Committee, said at the press meet that for the positions of President, NA chairman, and PM, the Party will go through a list of candidates, but did not elaborate.

"Until today, no one has ever run for those positions themselves," he said.

As scheduled, the NA would cast its secret ballot to dismiss incumbent National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on March 30. A day later, the new legislature leader would be sworn in following the election.

On April 1, the NA would cast a secret ballot to allow incumbent State President Nguyen Phu Trong to step down. The committee would then submit the list of nominees for election to the NA.

On April 2, the new head of state will take the oath of office, reported the vnexpress.

The same day, the NA would hold a secret ballot to allow incumbent Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to vacate his position. The newly-elected president would then submit the list of nominees for prime minister to the parliamentary body.

The new PM is expected to be sworn in on April 5.

For the upcoming session, the NA will spend 4.5 days discussing what has been done and what should be fixed during the 2016-2021 term and seven days on voting personnels for the new term.

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