18-5-2024 (HANOI) Vietnam’s Communist Party has nominated Public Security Minister To Lam to be the country’s new president, state media announced on Saturday, May 18th. This follows the resignation of his predecessor, Vo Van Thuong, as part of a widespread anti-corruption purge in the Southeast Asian nation.
The party’s central committee has agreed to nominate Comrade To Lam, a Politburo member and the current Minister of Public Security, to be elected as the next President of Vietnam. Lam, aged 66, has held the public security portfolio since 2016 and has taken a hardline stance on human rights movements within the communist country.
Lam’s nomination comes on the heels of Vo Van Thuong’s resignation in March, after just one year as president. Thuong’s departure is the latest in a series of high-profile leaders to fall victim to the party’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on corruption, led by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
Tran Thanh Man, 61, has also been nominated to become the new head of Vietnam’s National Assembly, one of the country’s four most powerful positions. Man, currently the National Assembly’s deputy chairman, will succeed Vuong Dinh Hue, who requested to step down last month due to “violations and shortcomings.”
The nominations have been accepted by the party’s central committee and will be officially voted on by the National Assembly, which is set to convene next week. The party has stressed that all top leadership must be “truly united, truly exemplary, wholehearted and devoted to the common cause.”
This political upheaval is highly unusual in Vietnam, where changes in leadership have traditionally been carefully orchestrated with an emphasis on cautious stability. However, the anti-corruption drive has proven popular with the public, as thousands of officials and business leaders have been caught up in the crackdown.
Analysts warn that the turmoil may threaten Vietnam’s reputation for stability, which has helped the country build a highly successful export-driven manufacturing economy, producing goods for major global brands. The country is seeking increased foreign investment, particularly from the United States, to develop its economy from low-value manufacturing to high-tech industries.
One of the most controversial figures in the leadership shakeup is To Lam, the incoming president. Lam has spent his entire career within the secretive Ministry of Public Security, which is responsible for monitoring dissent and surveilling activists in the authoritarian state. Rights groups have accused the government of stepping up its crackdown on civil society groups in recent years.
Lam is also the deputy head of the steering committee on anti-corruption, and has been accused of weaponising these investigations to target rivals within the Politburo who were eligible to become the next General Secretary of the Communist Party, the most powerful position in Vietnam’s political system.
The nomination of To Lam as president has sparked controversy, particularly after an incident in 2021 when he was filmed enjoying a steak smothered in edible 24-carat gold leaf at a London restaurant, shortly after laying a wreath at the grave of Karl Marx. The extravagant meal, which reportedly cost more than $1,000, sparked outrage in Vietnam, where the average person earns a few dollars a day.
