Top officials to face reviews on “confidence”

A vote of no confidence “shall be groundwork for firing officials who fail to win credibility from the National Assembly and people’s councils,” according to a resolution adopted by the NA last week.

The NA last week adopted the mechanism to apply to officials that held positions that are either elected or approved by the top legislative body or people’s councils. This resolution, which won 95.1 per cent approval from delegates, will take effect from February, 2013.

The resolution applies to those in positions of power including the State president and vice president, the National Assembly chairman and his deputies, chairman of the Ethnic Group Council, chairmen of the National Assembly’s specialised committees, members of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the prime minister and his deputies, ministers and other government members, judges of the People’s Supreme Court, head of the People’s Supreme Procuracy and the chief State auditor. These officials would be subject to votes of confidence from the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, people’s councils would conduct votes of confidence for people’s council’s chairman and his deputies, people’s committee’s chairman and his deputies, and other members of the people’s committee.

“The vote of confidence aims to explore the degree of confidence on senior officials to lay a foundation for evaluation and use of cadres of competent organizations,” the resolution stated.

“The vote of confidence demonstrates the trust or no-trust of the National Assembly and the people’s councils on senior officials,” it stated.

NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said the voting for  confidence would be conducted by secret ballots. The ballots covered the full name and position of the person subject to confidence voting, with three levels of evaluation including “high confidence”, “confidence” and “low confidence.”

Those who receive a majority “low confidence” rating might be required to step down.  For those with more than two-thirds of the votes of “low confidence” or over half of the ballots of “low confidence” for two consecutive years, the National Assembly Standing Committee and people’s councils would consider dismissal.

Confidence votes would be held annually, as from the second year of officials’ term of office.
The National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said voting for confidence was “a big policy of the Party and the State” and this resolution received “great attention from National Assembly delegates and constituents nationwide.”