Candidates being counted

Self-nominated candidates in the National Assembly election planned for May 20 come from a number of different sectors, with half coming from private enterprises, as well as lawyers and academics.
Observers also claim the legislature’s quality can be raised by allowing more independent candidates in the national elections.
By the middle of last week, nearly 70 independent candidates in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic hub, submitted nomination documents to their local election committees.
Another 20 people registered for self-nomination in Hanoi, three in Can Tho province, three in Long An, four in Tay Ninh in the south and one in Thua Thien-Hue province in the central region.
“We must consider that self-nomination in any national election is a normal activity in a civilised society. The increasing number of independent candidates [for the up-coming National Assembly election] proved that the people’s intellectual standards and democratic sense and practice have reached a new high level,” independent candidate Dang Van Khoa, in Ho Chi Minh City, told Vietnam Investment Review.
Khoa, the former director of Cai Lan vegetable oil joint venture, decided to resign from office to fully devote his knowledge and energy to the people’s interests by running for a seat in the country’s highest legislature.
Election committees in localities finished receiving nomination letters late last week and are now preparing to launch preliminary lists of candidates this week. They predicted that self-nominated candidates would possibly exceed 100, nearly five times more than the 11th National Assembly election five years ago.
Professor Carl A. Thayer, a specialist in Vietnamese politics at the Australian Defence Force Academy’s University of New South Wales, said Vietnam has embarked on a gradual process of political liberalisation through changes to the electoral law for deputies to the National Assembly.
“[However], the electoral process has been too sluggish in permitting qualified self-nominated candidates to stand and to win election to the National Assembly,” Thayer told VIR.
As one of the leading foreign experts on Vietnamese politics, Thayer explained that the National Assembly was playing a very significant role in separating the chaotic overlap between party and state and the party was correct in allowing the National Assembly a greater role in crafting legislation and engaging in debate.
“The quality of the National Assembly can only be raised by allowing a greater choice of independent candidates in national elections,” he stressed.
Only three out of 26 self-nominated candidates were elected during the 11th National Assembly election.
Observers, meanwhile, consider that self-nomination is still a growing force but candidates are yet to fully comprehend the difficulties inherent in the responsibilities of becoming an NA delegate.
“Although this event reflects a change of thinking, there will be no big alteration in this year’s election as faculties for self-nominated candidates have not been built,” said Le Dinh Phat, manager of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Le Dinh Law Firm.
“[Electoral] democracy is still a de jure democracy as facilities to practice a real democracy are limited,” he said.
The National Assembly last week announced that the number of delegates for the 2007-2012 term will not exceed 500, with full-time delegates accounting for 30 per cent, up from 25 per cent in the current five-year term.