NA leadership line-up to drive for prosperity

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (second from right), State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (third from right), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (first from right) and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (first from left). Photo: VNA

The elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly (NA) and people’s councils of all levels for the 2021-2026 tenure are scheduled to take place on May 23. The tenure will also determine vital issues of the country, while seeing Vietnam implement its socioeconomic development plan for the 2021-2025 period, laying a firm foundation for the country to do the same for another similar plan for 2026-2030. Both plans are under the national Socioeconomic Development Strategy for the 2021-2030 period.

The National Election Council has announced the official list of 868 candidates who will run for 500 seats in the NA at both central and local levels. Of the 868 candidates, 203 NA deputies are from the central level and 665 come from the local level.

Of the total figure at central level, 11 are from Party agencies, five from the State President Office and judicial agencies, 129 from NA agencies, and 15 from the government, government agencies. The number of ethnic minority deputies is 163, while those who are not Party members number 70.

On March 31, professor in economics Vuong Dinh Hue, who is a Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, became the new Chairman of the legislative body and also chairman of the National Election Council.

Replacing former NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, 64-year-old Hue has become the 12th NA chairperson since 1946 when the country’s first general election was held. All 473 deputies voted in his favour.

After the ballot, Hue took the oath of office, vowing to “be completely faithful to the country, people and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and to do his “utmost to accomplish all tasks assigned by the Party, the state and the people”.

Other NA new vice chairmen were also elected, including Tran Thanh Man, Nguyen Khac Dinh, and Nguyen Duc Hai.

The new NA, together with a facilitating new government and under the leadership of the Party, will drive the country to further prosperity, with favourable conditions to continue being created for all, and with the nation’s stature and prestige continuing to be enhanced in the region and the wider world.

Under the resolution of the recent 13th National Party Congress, the Party has specified goals for Vietnam. Concretely, the country will become a developing country with modernity-oriented industrial development by 2025 when per capita GDP will be $4,700-5,000; a developing nation by 2030 with modern industrial development and upper-middle income; and a developed economy with high income by 2045 with per capita income of about $18,000 a year.

To this end, one of the strategic breakthroughs that the Party has specified will be “creating a good system of laws, mechanisms, and policies, while establishing a favourable, healthy, and fair investment and business climate for all economic sectors, with the promotion of innovation and the mobilisation, management, and effective use of all resources for development – especially land, finance, and public-private partnerships.”

Despite the ongoing pandemic, Vietnam’s economy grew 2.91 per cent last year – making the country one of the few nations in the world with positive economic growth. The rate was 4.48 per cent in the first quarter, higher than the 3.82 per cent rise in the same period of 2020.

Nguyen Viet Chuc, former Vice Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, and Children, said that for Vietnam to realise its development dreams, the NA must be home to excellent deputies with good ethics and profound knowledge in law and socioeconomic affairs.

“They must be absolutely faithful to the interests of the people as they, on behalf of the people, decide on vital national issues which help the country out of the situation of lagging behind other nations, and gradually materialise its ambition to become a developed nation in the new development period,” Chuc said.

Currently, all thorough preparations for the election of the 15th NA and all-level people’s councils for the 2021-2026 tenure have been made with the highest spirit and responsibility, especially the task of fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Assembly Office.