The National Assembly ratified with 487 of 488 votes the election of Vo Van Thuong, 52, who takes over from his predecessor accused of not sufficiently fighting corruption. A trusted man of the Secretary General of the Communist Party, the very powerful Nguyen Phu Trong, will continue the purges after the scandals over the concessions for the management of the pandemic.
Hanoi () – With today’s confirmation vote by the National Assembly, Vietnam has a new president, Vo Van Thuong, 52. A changing of the guard that is presented as a new step to further concretize the commitment of the Communist Party to restore morality and legality, according to what he himself declared in his inaugural speech.
Thuong’s election comes after a period of political uncertainty and also internal party tensions that led to the dismissal of several ministers. In the spotlight was the widespread corruption in which his predecessor, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, had also been involved, in office since April 2021 and already prime minister since 2016. Phuc was forced to resign in January precisely because, as prime minister, had not detected or punished the infractions of some of his ministers.
Thuong, elected with 487 votes out of 488, will complete his predecessor’s term until 2026, “determined to fight against corruption and negative phenomena.” For now, his role will be to participate in the triad of power that governs the country, which also includes the Secretary General of the Communist Party, the extremely powerful Nguyen Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính. Thuong enjoys the former’s trust, but he is also an outspoken supporter of the compromise policy against corruption that has eroded the credibility of the party and institutions. To date, dozens of officials have been arrested, some of them for having profited from contracts during the campaign against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The choice of Thuong seemed ideal to carry out the programs proposed by the party, in continuity with previous functions. Already known for his role as deputy director of the Central Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of Corruption and Negative Phenomena, he was head of the Central Propaganda Department of the single party and de facto responsible for media censorship. and social networks. Continuity and Stability also emerged as slogans to overcome a complex phase in the life of the country, still open to uncertainty regarding development and well-being, despite the fact that Vietnam overcame the acute phases of the pandemic with less difficulty than others.
