Change expected at Vietnam party congress in April
HANOI - Vietnam's ruling communist party will hold its five-yearly congress from April 18 to 25, officials have announced, setting the stage for an event likely to bring top leadership changes.
Many observers expect Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, 72, and President Tran Duc Luong, 68, to bow out at the 10th National Party Congress, which will also decide the political future of party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, 65.
The dates for the event have been subject to speculation for months while party committees have met behind closed doors to agree on key personnel and policy changes to be officially approved at the congress.
The deep ideological disputes between hardliners and reformers that once tore through Vietnam's Communist Party may have dissipated, but personnel questions remain a cause for factional infighting and horse-trading.
"The most important and most complicated issue is personnel preparation for the 10th party congress," a party official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Although there have been some disputes, the 14th party plenum has approved the list of candidates for the coming congress."
The event comes during an important year for Vietnam, whose communist leadership, like China's, has opted for a free market model while retaining firm one-party rule over the country of more than 82 million people.
Thirty years after Vietnam was reunified following the 'American War' and two decades after the launch of economic reforms known as Doi Moi (Renewal) the economy grew at more than 8 per cent last year.
Vietnam is seeking to join the World Trade Organisation this year and will host an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November that will bring leaders including US
President George W. Bush.
With Vietnam now headed toward fully-fledged capitalism, few analysts expect radical change in direction when the party chooses a new politburo, the decision-making body at the heart of the communist leadership.
The party has held a national congress every five years since 1976. The events bring together more than 1,000 party delegates elected at district and provincial levels and by the People's Army.
At the national congress, the party officially revises past statues, approves the secretary general's political report and sets the socio-economic strategy and targets for the next five years.
Vietnam's ruling party may have broadly agreed on free market reforms, but the party official said that within the Central Committee "Vietnam's development orientation" remains "a controversial issue for participants."
Corruption among state officials and how to best fight graft have also triggered heated debate within the party.
The congress elects the party's national leadership, the 150-member Central Committee, which in turn convenes straight after the meeting to elect its executive body, the politburo, which currently has 14 members.
For all their Soviet style pomp, party congresses are seen as largely ceremonial events that officially approve changes agreed in advance.
At a plenum last week the Central Committee said it had reviewed tens of thousands of public suggestions on a draft political report published in the Vietnamese state media in February.
It thanked the people for their "straightforward and heartfelt opinions" but also warned that it would reject opinions "with hostile and inimical purposes that ... distort, slander and sully the Party, State and people."
Agence France Presse - March 25, 2006.
Vietnam to hold Communist Party congress April 18-25
HANOI (AP) - Vietnam's ruling Communist Party will elect new leaders and set the country's political direction at its party congress to be held April 18-25, state-controlled media said Saturday.
The party's elite Central Committee has approved a list of new candidates for leadership at the congress, held once every five years, according to a statement released Friday at the end of its five-day plenum, the official party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) reported.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, 72, and President Tran Duc Luong, 68, are widely expected to step down to make way for younger leaders at next month's meeting, which will also decide whether Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, 65, remains in the top post.
The statement said tens of thousands of people have contributed ideas to a draft political report, which was published last month to garner public feedback.
"Generally, most of the ideas are frank, demonstrating the sense of responsibility to the party, the nation and the desire for an increasingly stronger party and increasingly developed country,'' the statement said.
However, the committee also warned against those who abused the feedback process to blacken the party's image.
"The Party Central Committee ... strongly criticizes and rejects ill-intentioned and hostile opinions, abusing the consultation of the political report to distort, slander and tarnish the party, state and our people,'' it said.
Some dissidents have called for the party to relinquish its grip on power, allowing a multiparty system.
The party Central Committee also reprimanded Hoang Cong Hoan, party secretary of northern Lang Son province, for mistakes in running his office, the statement said, without elaborating.
The Associated Press - March 25, 2006.
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