The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam ( vi, Chủ tịch Quốc hội Việt Nam), known as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam ( vi, Chủ tịch Ủy ban Thường vụ Quốc hội Việt Nam) from 1946 to 1981, is the
legislative speaker
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a Legislature, legislative body, is its chairperson, presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the r ...
of Vietnam, presiding over the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. The National Assembly is, in the words of the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, "the highest representative organ of the people; the highest organ of state power".
The chairman is elected by the deputies (members) of the National Assembly in the first season of the assembly's tenure. The
Standing Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
, over which the chairman presides, is a permanent body which controls the activities of the National Assembly when it is not in session. The chairman and the other members of the Standing Committee have to resign from their posts when the National Assembly dissolves itself, which it normally does every fifth year. The chairman presides over the sessions of the National Assembly and authenticates laws and resolutions passed by the National Assembly by signing them. The chairman leads the activities of the Standing Committee and organises its external relations with other state bodies and is responsible for maintaining cordial relations between the members of the Standing Committee. The deputies of the National Assembly have the right to question the chairman.
The powers and prestige of the office of chairman has varied throughout the years. For instance, the two first officeholders
Nguyễn Văn Tố and
Bùi Bằng Đoàn were not members of the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
, while
Trường Chinh
Trường Chinh (, born Đặng Xuân Khu; 9 February 1907, Xuân Trường District, Nam Định Province – 30 September 1988, Hanoi) was a Vietnamese communist political leader and theoretician. He was one of the key figures of Vietnamese poli ...
, the fourth chairman, was ranked second in the
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
hierarchy. Still, of the ten people who have chaired the National Assembly, five of them have been members of the Politburo. The current chairman is
Vương Đình Huệ
Vương Đình Huệ (born 15 March 1957) is a Vietnamese politician and Professor in Economics. He is currently the Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, and Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee. He was previously Minister of Finance ...
, and he is ranked third in the Politburo hierarchy.
History
The first chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly was the scholar Nguyễn Văn Tố; he was not a member of the Communist Party. On 3 March 1946, under the chairmanship of Nguyễn Văn Tố, the National Assembly formed the first government of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
. Nguyễn Văn Tố was succeeded in office on 9 November 1946 by
Bùi Bằng Đoàn, a poet and another non-Communist Party member. While he was never a member of the Communist Party, he was a committed revolutionary.
Tôn Đức Thắng
Tôn Đức Thắng (August 20, 1888 – March 30, 1980) was the second and last president of North Vietnam and the first president of the reunified Vietnam under the leadership of General Secretary Lê Duẩn. The position of president is cerem ...
succeeded Bùi Bằng Đoàn as chairman in 1955, and was the first chairman to be a member of the Communist Party.
Trường Chinh
Trường Chinh (, born Đặng Xuân Khu; 9 February 1907, Xuân Trường District, Nam Định Province – 30 September 1988, Hanoi) was a Vietnamese communist political leader and theoretician. He was one of the key figures of Vietnamese poli ...
became the fourth and longest-serving chairman of the National Assembly in Vietnamese history, holding the post from 1960 to 1981, when he became chairman of the State Council, a newly established post.
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (10 July 1910 – 24 December 1996) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and Chairman of Consultative Council of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam from 6 June 1969 to 2 July 1976, and the Chairman of the National As ...
, a Southerner, succeeded Trường in 1981, as chairman, but he was not a member of the
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
. Nguyễn Hữu Thọ stepped down as chairman in 1987, and was succeeded by
Lê Quang Đạo
Lê Quang Đạo (8 August 1921 – 24 July 1999) was a Vietnamese politician who was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1960 to 1991. Having served 28 years in the military, he was promoted to the rank of Maj ...
, another non-Politburo member. As with Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, Lê Quang Đạo's tenure lasted one term.
Nông Đức Mạnh
Nông Đức Mạnh (; born 11 September 1940) is a Vietnamese politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the most powerful position in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, from 22 April 2001 to 19 January 2011. ...
was elected chairman in 1992, and held office until 2001 Nông was the first chairman who came from a minority background, the
Tày, and was the first chairman since Trường who was a Politburo member. Nông stepped down in 2001, and was succeeded by
Nguyễn Văn An
Nguyễn Văn An (born 1 October 1937) is a Vietnamese politician who served as Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam
The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc hội nước Cộng hoà xã hội chủ ng ...
, who served as chairman from 2001 until 2006. On 26 June 2006
Nguyễn Phú Trọng
Nguyễn Phú Trọng (born 14 April 1944) is a Vietnamese politician who has served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam — the highest political position in Vietnam — since 2011. In addition, Nguyễn Phú Trọng serv ...
was elected chairman with a majority of 84.58% of the National Assembly deputies in favour. Nguyễn Phú Trọng stepped down in 2011 because of his election to the post of
General Secretary
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of the
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
of the
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
, and was succeeded by Nguyễn Sinh Hùng. Nguyễn Sinh Hùng stepped down on 31 March 2016, and was replaced by
Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân.
She's the first woman to hold the office.
Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân stepped down on 31 March 2021, and was replaced by
Vương Đình Huệ
Vương Đình Huệ (born 15 March 1957) is a Vietnamese politician and Professor in Economics. He is currently the Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, and Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee. He was previously Minister of Finance ...
.
List
Notes
:1. The Politburo of the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the CPV and the
Central Government
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
. The membership composition, and the order of rank of the individual Politburo members is decided in an election within the newly formed Central Committee in the aftermath of a Party Congress. The Central Committee can overrule the Politburo, but that does not happen often.
:2. These numbers are not official.
:3. The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a
National Party Congress elects the Politburo. According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee.
Lê Hồng Anh
Lê Hồng Anh (born November 12, 1949) is a Vietnamese politician who was the Minister of Public Security of Vietnam from 2002 to 2011. He was conferred the rank of General by the President of Vietnam on January 9, 2005.
In 2011, Lê Hồng An ...
, the
Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the
10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being
Tô Huy Rứa
Tô Huy Rứa (born 4 June 1947 in Thanh Hóa Province) is a Vietnamese politician and served as previous Chairman of the CPV Commission for Organisation. During the 10th Politburo, Tô held the posts of Chairman of the Propaganda Department of ...
of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he stood for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee. The Politburo ranking functioned as an official
order of precedence
An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...
before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.
:4. Ton Duc Thang took over the vacant position of Bui Bang Doan as he was severely ill at that time, however Bui Bang Doan still held the title of Head of National Assembly until he died in 1955, hence Ton Duc Thang was acting Head of National Assembly during that period
References
General
The number of chairmen of the National Assembly, their names, and when they took and left office, was taken from this source:
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Specific
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chairmen Of The Standing Committee Of The National Assembly Of Vietnam
Politics of Vietnam
Vietnam, National Assembly
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1946 establishments in Vietnam