Vietnam has nominated the enforcer of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption drive as the next president and proposed a new head of the National Assembly, in appointments that could ease months of political turmoil and allow policymakers to refocus on a struggling economy.
Unprecedentedly for a one-party nation once known for its stable politics, two state presidents and a National Assembly speaker have stepped down in less than 18 months, all for unspecified “wrongdoing” amid a major anti-graft campaign which is unnerving foreign investors because of its chilling effect on bureaucracy.
After approval from the National Assembly, which could come this week, Vietnamese Minister of Public Security To Lam would replace Vo Van Thuong, who stepped down in March after being accused of contravening party rules, just over a year after his appointment.
Photo: AFP
Lam would retain his police minister job even after taking office as state president, National Assembly General Secretary Bui Van Cuong told a news conference yesterday.
“The Politburo hasn’t nominated a new Minister of Public Security, and therefore the National Assembly will not vote to dismiss this post during its upcoming session,” Cuong said.
Widely considered one of the most powerful figures in the country, Lam was chosen by the party’s Central Committee earlier last week, but authorities and state media only revealed the nomination on Saturday.
The Central Committee also sought to elevate National Assembly Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man to the legislature chairman’s post.
The nominations come amid a years-long anti-graft campaign pushed by Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong that has ensnared scores of other government officials and business executives. A death sentence was last month handed to a real-estate tycoon in a US$12 billion fraud case.
The National Assembly would begin the process of voting on the nominations today, after the start of its summer session, Cuong said.
Lam, 66, would be the third president of the Southeast Asian nation in less than two years. His two immediate predecessors resigned after accepting responsibility for “violations” possibly detected by the ministry that Lam oversaw.
Lam has emerged as one of the most important officials apart from Trong, after his work to weed out corruption helped lift Vietnam’s ranking in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index to 83 last year from 113 in 2016.
While the presidency in Vietnam is largely ceremonial, it is also the second-most important position in the political hierarchy and a possible stepping stone to eventually succeed Trong when his term ends in early 2026.
The presidential role carries little power and could also indicate that Lam is losing influence in the government, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
“He won’t have his hands on the levers of power,” Thayer said.
The scope and intensity of Lam’s public ministry investigations at the behest of Trong have unnerved many officials, he said.
As the public security minister since 2016, Lam’s law enforcement responsibilities have included leading the sweeping anti-graft effort that led to at least 459 party members being disciplined over corruption last year alone.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS