The Communist Party secretary was the only candidate running to succeed the late President Trần Đại Quang. He will retain his position as head of the party, becoming the first person to fill both roles with the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.
Hanoi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - With 99.8% of votes in favor, the National Assembly elected Nguyen Phu Trong (photo), secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), new president of the Republic.
Although the role of head of state is largely ceremonial, Trong, age 74, will retain his position as head of the party, becoming the first person to hold both roles since the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in the late 1960s. .
Having obtained two of the so-called "four pillars" of power in Vietnam [President of the Republic, Party Secretary, Prime Minister and President of the National Assembly] will allow Trong to centralize himself with enormous power of governance, whose mechanisms are often hidden to the public.
He was the only candidate running to succeed the late President Trần Đại Quang. In yesterday's consultations, only one of the 478 MPs voted against his election. Conservative and true number one of the regime, during his second term at the helm of the Party, Trong launched a tough government campaign against corruption.
It has brought to trial high officials and state officials, including a member of the Politburo, with allegations of financial embezzlement and fraud. According to critics, such measures are the result of internal political conflict.