Topic summary
President of Vietnam
The President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước Cộng hoà Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam, Chủ tịch nước and State President for short) is the head of state of Vietnam. As head of state, the president represents Vietnam domestically and internationally, and maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the central government and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The presidency is generally considered to hold the second-highest position in the political system, practically after the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
The president must be a member of the National Assembly of Vietnam. The president has traditionally been a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and a member of the Politburo. The Central Committee nominates candidates to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which then confirms and nominates those candidates for official election by all delegates of the National Assembly. The president appoints the vice president, prime minister, ministers, and other officials with the consent of the National Assembly. The president is the nominal supreme commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and chairman of the National Defense and Security Council. The president is also a member of the Central Military Commission and the Central Police Party Committee which are headed by the Party general secretary. Since September 2011, the president is also the chairman of the Party's Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform.
The powers and prestige of the office of president have varied over the years. For instance, while the inaugural president, Hồ Chí Minh, was also the chairman of the Communist Party, making him (in that capacity) the first ranking member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, was not a member of the Politburo and served as a symbolic figure under General Secretary Lê Duẩn. Since Trường Chinh's ascension to the presidency, the president has been ranked 1st (if concurrently served as General Secretary) or 2nd in the order of precedence of the Communist Party's Politburo, except for President Nguyễn Minh Triết (who ranked fourth) and President Võ Chí Công (who ranked third). Four persons have served concurrently as head of the party and state: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–1969), Trường Chinh (1986), Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–2021), and Tô Lâm (2024 and 2026 onwards).
The tenure of the presidency is five years, and a president can only serve three terms. If the president becomes unable to discharge duties of office, the vice president will assume the acting presidency on an interim basis until the president resumes duty, or until the election of a new president by the National Assembly. Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân served as acting president of Vietnam twice, in 2023 and 2024. Her predecessor, Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh, was the first woman in Vietnamese history to assume the (acting) presidency following the death of President Trần Đại Quang in 2018. Tô Lâm is the incumbent president of Vietnam, serving in this role since 7 April 2026, succeeding Lương Cường.