This is a list of those who have served as President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Chủ tịch nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) from the establishment of the position to the present. Since Vietnam is a

single-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

, the president is generally considered to hold the second highest position in the political system, after the

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam ( vi, Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), known as First Secretary ( vi, Bí thư Thứ nhất) from 1960 to 1976, is t ...

. In its current incarnation the president is the

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

of the

Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

, as well as the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

in tandem with

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. The president represents Vietnam internally and externally, supervises the work as well as preserving the stability of the national governmental system and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The president appoints prime minister,

vice-president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

s, ministers and other officials with the consent of 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 rep ...

. The head of state is the ''de jure'' commander-in-chief of the

Vietnam People's Armed Forces The Vietnam People's Armed Forces () are the armed forces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, directly under the command of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam (for which it serves as the Party's armed wing). I ...

and Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly. Since Vietnam is a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by 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 entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, all the presidents of the

Democratic Republic A democratic republic is a form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic and a democracy. As a cross between two exceedingly similar systems, democratic republics may function on principles shared by both republics and democra ...

and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office. The current interim President is Võ Thị Ánh Xuân since the resignation of

Nguyễn Xuân Phúc Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (born 20 July 1954) is a Vietnamese politician currently serving as the President of Vietnam, one of the highest-ranked officials in Vietnam along with Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vie ...

on 18 January 2023. The modern office of the President of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to

Hồ Chí Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Pri ...

, the first President of the North Vietnam, and the office has no connection, or lineage, officially at least, to the head of state of the former South Vietnam (

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 communist and the head of state of South Vietnam). Officially there have been 11 presidents, although the count is 12 presidents should the one declared president of South Vietnam be counted.

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam, 1945–1976)

;Status

Republic of South Vietnam The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG, vi, Chính phủ Cách mạng Lâm thời Cộng hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam), was formed on June 8, 1969, by North Vietnam as a purportedly independent shadow gover ...
(1969–1976)

Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)

;Status

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:3 bottom:120 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:1945 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1945 Colors = id:icp value:rgb(0.5,0.02,0.02) legend:Indochinese_Communist_Party id:wpv value:rgb(0.75,0.02,0.02) legend:Workers'_Party_of_Vietnam id:none value:rgb(0.87,0.87,0.87) legend:None id:cpv value:rgb(1,0.02,0.02) legend:Communist_Party_of_Vietnam Legend = columns:2 left:200 top:80 columnwidth:230 TextData = pos:(20,100) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Political parties:" BarData = bar:HồChíMinh bar:HuỳnhThúcKháng bar:TônĐứcThắng bar:NguyễnHữuThọ bar:TrườngChinh bar:VõChíCông bar:LêĐứcAnh bar:TrầnĐứcLương bar:NguyễnMinhTriết bar:TrươngTấnSang bar:TrầnĐạiQuang bar:ĐặngThịNgọcThịnh bar:NguyễnPhúTrọng bar:NguyễnXuânPhúc bar:VõThịÁnhXuân bar:VõVănThưởng PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:HồChíMinh from: 02/09/1945 till: 19/02/1951 color:icp from: 19/02/1951 till: 02/09/1969 color:wpv text:"

" bar:HuỳnhThúcKháng from: 29/05/1946 till: 21/10/1946 color:none text:" Huỳnh Thúc Kháng" bar:TônĐứcThắng from: 02/09/1969 till: 02/07/1976 color:wpv from: 02/07/1976 till: 30/03/1980 color:cpv text:"

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 ...

" bar:NguyễnHữuThọ from: 30/03/1980 till: 04/07/1981 color:cpv text:"

" bar:TrườngChinh from: 04/07/1981 till: 18/06/1987 color:cpv text:"

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 ...

" bar:VõChíCông from: 18/06/1987 till: 23/09/1992 color:cpv text:"

Võ Chí Công Võ Chí Công (born Võ Toàn; 7 August 1912 – 8 September 2011) was a Vietnamese Communist politician, and the Chairman of the Council of State of Vietnam (Alternatively: President of Vietnam) between 1987 and 1992. He was the Standing Depu ...

" bar:LêĐứcAnh from: 23/09/1992 till: 24/09/1997 color:cpv text:"

Lê Đức Anh Lê Đức Anh (1 December 1920 – 22 April 2019) was a Vietnamese politician and general who served as the fourth President of Vietnam from 1992 to 1997. He previously led the Vietnamese forces in Cambodia throughout the 1980s. He was regarde ...

" bar:TrầnĐứcLương from: 24/09/1997 till: 27/06/2006 color:cpv text:"

Trần Đức Lương Trần Đức Lương (born 5 May 1937) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the fifth President of Vietnam from 1997 to 2006.Bruce M. Lockhart, William J. Duiker ''Historical Dictionary of Vietnam'', 2006, p. 371. entry Trần Đức Lươ ...

" bar:NguyễnMinhTriết from: 27/06/2006 till: 25/07/2011 color:cpv text:"

Nguyễn Minh Triết Nguyễn Minh Triết (born 8 October 1942) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the sixth President of Vietnam from 2006 to 2011. He was elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam with 464 votes (94%) in June 2006. Nguyễn Minh Triết w ...

" bar:TrươngTấnSang from: 25/07/2011 till: 02/04/2016 color:cpv text:"

Trương Tấn Sang Trương Tấn Sang (born 21 January 1949) is a Vietnamese politician, who served as the seventh President of Vietnam from 2011 to 2016. He was one of Vietnam's top leaders, alongside prime minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and Party general secret ...

" bar:TrầnĐạiQuang from: 02/04/2016 till: 21/09/2018 color:cpv text:"

Trần Đại Quang Trần Đại Quang (12 October 1956 – 21 September 2018) was a Vietnamese politician and former police general who served as the eighth President of Vietnam from 2 April 2016 until his death in 2018. Trần Đại Quang was elected to the post ...

" bar:ĐặngThịNgọcThịnh from: 21/09/2018 till: 23/10/2018 color:cpv text:" Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh" bar:NguyễnPhúTrọng from: 23/10/2018 till: 05/04/2021 color:cpv text:"

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 ser ...

" bar:NguyễnXuânPhúc from: 05/04/2021 till: 18/01/2023 color:cpv text:"

" bar:VõThịÁnhXuân from: 18/01/2023 till: 02/03/2023 color:cpv text:" Võ Thị Ánh Xuân" bar:VõVănThưởng from: 02/03/2023 till: end color:cpv text:"

Võ Văn Thưởng Võ Văn Thưởng (born 13 December 1970) is a Vietnamese politician. He is currently a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a standing member of the Secretariat of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet ...

List of presidents by length of tenure

Notes

:1. These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting head of state. The first column shows how many presidents there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many presidents there was in that state.

References

Bibliography

* * {{VietnamPres *

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Vietnamese presidents by time in office

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...