Battle for succession in the Communist Party of Vietnam begins
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dec 14 (efe-epa).- The battle for succession in the top leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam officially began on Monday with the plenary meeting of the party’s central committee, which, this week will elect its members for the next five years, one month before the National Congress scheduled for January.
This meeting of the most powerful body of the party, which has governed Vietnam since 1975, will also serve to elect members of the party’s main decision making body, the Politburo, whose appointment will be ratified during the Congress in the first month of next year.
From the Politburo will emerge the successor of Nguyen Phu Trong, one of the most powerful politicians in the history of Vietnam after rising to the most powerful post of General Secretary in the last Congress in 2016 and being appointed president after the sudden death of his predecessor, Tran Dai Quang, in 2018.
“Preparedness to choose the new personnel of the Politburo and 13th Party Central Committee is crucial and has a direct bearing on the success of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party and the development of the nation,” Trong said in opening remarks at the meeting.
Each committee member should “carefully consider and put the benefits of the Party, the nation and the people first” when casting their votes, he added, according to local newspaper, VnExpress.
The tenure of Trong, whose prominence has declined in the last year-and-a-half due to alleged health problems, has been based on an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign against senior political and business officials and increased repression against political dissidents.
At 76 years of age and well past the official retirement age, he is expected to be relieved of both his position at the helm of the party and the presidency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
In such a hermetic party, in which decisions are made by the consensus of the top leadership, no candidate stands out to take over from Trong, although some experts see possible the rise of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who enjoys great popularity due to his successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic. EFE-EPA
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