Vietnam's ruling party tightens grip on National Assembly
HANOI - The ruling Communist Party strengthened its grip on Vietnam's
National Assembly in elections held last week and fewer than half the
private-sector candidates who stood won seats, officials said on
Saturday.
Announcing the results of last Sunday's polls, assembly Vice Chairman
Mai
Thuc Lan said 51 non-party candidates were elected, compared with 66 in
the
previous elections in 1997.
He told a news conference the number from the private sector rose to six
of
the total 498 seats. This compared with three in the last elections in
1997
but was fewer than half the 14 who stood.
Lan announced a turnout of 99.73 percent, meaning only 134,452 of the
49,902,967 registered to vote failed to do so. Some districts claimed
all
voters cast their ballots.
The claim was a record even for Vietnam's opaque single-party system, in
which calls for pluralism remain a criminal offence. Vote counting is
done
in secret and all candidates must be vetted by communist Fatherland
Front.
It was in sharp contrast to a mood of apathy and cynicism witnessed on
polling day, when many people said they believed the outcome was
predetermined behind the scenes.
Voting is not compulsory, but expected of "good citizens" and many who
went
to the polls appeared to do so to avoid harassment by officials
competing
for the highest returns. Many votes were cast for entire families by a
single family member.
With a candidate-to-seat ratio of just 1.5 to 1, there were few
possibilities for surprises. No senior figure has ever been known to
lose
and this time was no exception.
Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh secured more than 94 percent of the
vote
in his central Hanoi constituency, where he, the city police chief and
its
chief judge stood for three seats against two little known female
candidates.
Cabinet reshuffle expected
The new assembly must meet by July 19 and its first task will be to
approve
a cabinet reshuffle expected to see Prime Minister Phan Van Khai
retained in
office until late 2003 but changes in several other portfolios.
Two ministers who fared relatively poorly in the polls were Finance
Minister
Nguyen Sinh Hung, who won 64.65 percent of votes in his constituency in
Ho
Chi Minh City and Trade Minister Vu Khoan, who secured 68.83 percent in
his
in Dong Nai province.
They are among those expected to retain cabinet positions and Khoan, the
leader most closely identified with reform after helping push through a
historic trade pact with the United States, has been tipped for a
promotion
to deputy prime minister.
Hung, meanwhile, is expected to preside over Vietnam's first issue of
sovereign bonds overseas later this year, which will help fund an
ambitious
multi-billion dollar development plan launched at a World bank sponsored
donors' meeting on Friday.
The ministers were among 160 centrally appointed candidates, of whom 154
were successful, and faced a harder time as northerners bidding for
southern
votes.
Diplomats said the decline in successful non-party candidates was a
little
disappointing, as was the fact that the number from the private sector
had
not grown faster at a time when Vietnam was engaged in a process of
business-friendly reform.
"It would certainly have had the appearance of being a little more
democratic if more had won," an Asian diplomat said. "Of course there
were
no big names that didn't get in."
The assembly faces a heavy schedule in its five-year tenure, passing
reforms
to help Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organisation and to boost
investment by revamping a Soviet-style legal system to create a society
ruled by law rather than decree.
This process should be helped by the fact that for the first time a
quarter
of all new delegates will be paid professionals.
Lan said the reason fewer non-party candidates had been elected was that
many were elderly artists and intellectuals, while others -- including a
student who listed his occupation as "unemployed" -- were judged too
young
and inexperienced.
Asked to explain the remarkable turnout, Lan said it showed citizens
were
more aware of their "right and duty" to vote.
By David Brunnstrom - Reuters, May 25, 2002
Vietnam's communists win 90 percent of parliamentary seats
The Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) won 89.7 percent of parliamentary
seats
in national elections a week ago, according to official results.
The party, which holds a monopoly on political life in Vietnam, occupied
85
percent of the seats in the last parliament.
After the May 19 poll, it boosted its representation in what most
observers
consider to be a "rubber-stamp parliament" to 447 of the 498 available
seats.
The first task of the new assembly will be to name a president and a
prime
minister, with diplomats saying Tran Duc Luong is expected to remain as
president and Phan Van Khai as prime minister.
The country's top leaders were all reelected to their positions as MPs,
as
expected.
They included the president, prime minister, party supremo Nong Duc Manh
and
National Assembly leader Nguyen Van Anont.
All the members of VCP's powerful political bureau were also reelected.
General Secretary Nong Duc Manh heads the bureau, made up of 15 members.
Among the 759 candidates authorized to stand for election to a five-year
term, 634 represented the VCP
The other 125 were non-party candidates who, like all Vietnamese, must
accept the party's constitutional monopoly of power.
All candidates required the party's permission to stand for election,
and
only two non-party candidates were elected, according to the official
results.
The rate of participation in the poll was officially recorded at 99.7
percent, in what Mai Thuc Lan -- vice president of the election steering
committee responsible for propaganda -- described as "the highest
turnout in
the history of Vietnam".
"It is a great success because these elections were held in a secure
environment and a legal and democratic way," Lan told reporters when the
results were announced.
The new parliament includes 136 women, against 117 in the past one, and
348
of the MPs were elected for the first time.
It will meet for the first time at mid-July to elect government members
to
posts or confirm their current posts, with diplomats saying few changes
are
expected.
Agence France Presse - May 26, 2002
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