President of Vietnam
Template:Short description Template:Main list Template:Infobox political post The president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Template:Langx) is the head of state of Vietnam, elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam from its delegates. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, candidates for the post are nominated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The officeholder is generally considered to hold the second-highest position<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in the political system, practically after the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. As head of state, the president represents Vietnam both domestically and internationally, and maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country.
The president must be a member of the National Assembly. In addition, the president has traditionally been a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and a member of the Politburo. The Central Committee of the Communist Party 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 furthermore the nominal supreme commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and chairman of the Council for National Defense and Security. Additionally, the president is also a member of the Central Military Commission and the Central Police Party Committee. 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 served concurrently as head of both the party and state: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–1969), Trường Chinh (1986), Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–2021), and Tô Lâm (2024).
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.Template:Efn 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
General Lương Cường is the incumbent president of Vietnam, serving in this role since 21 October 2024, succeeding General Secretary Tô Lâm.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Hồ Chí Minh was appointed Vietnam's first president in 1946 by the National Assembly.<ref name="Politicalsystem" /> The 1959 Constitutions stated that the National Assembly had the power to appoint and dismiss the president. The president represented Vietnam both internally and externally. The power and responsibilities of the president in 1946 constitution is very similar to the power and responsibilities of the president of the United States with elements from the president of France being both the head of state and the head of government. The 1959 constitution significantly reduced the power of the president, making the president the de jure leader of Vietnam while handling most of the de facto power to the post of general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The 1980 constitution transformed the office of head of state dramatically. The office of president was abolished and replaced with the office of Chairman of the Council of State (CC). The CC chairmanship was modelled after the Soviet office of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Council of State, as with the Council of Ministers, was a collective decision-making body. Both the Council of State and the Council of Ministers were part of the executive branch; the strengthening of these institutions weakened the role of the legislative branch.<ref name=cs>Template:Country study</ref> The duties, powers and responsibilities of the Council of State were taken from the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which lost most of its powers and prestige in the 1980 Constitution.
The members of the Council of State were elected by the National Assembly and consisted of a chairman, deputy chairmen, a general secretary and other members. Council of State members could not concurrently be members of the Council of Ministers. The chairman of the Council of State was concurrently chairman of the National Defense Council (later the National Defense and Security Council) and commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces. The Council of State supervised the works of other institutions, most notably the Council of Ministers, the Supreme People's Organ for Control and the People's Councils at all levels. It also presided over the elections of the National Assembly. The office of Chairman of the Council of State, the head of state, was abolished in the 1992 Constitution and replaced by the office of President.
The importance of the president has not remained constant throughout Vietnamese history. For instance, while Hồ Chí Minh was ranked as first member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, was a symbolic figure with little power.Template:Sfn The post of head of state was strengthened in the 1980 Constitution by the appointment of Trường Chinh who was, by order of precedence, the second-highest-ranking member in the Politburo, behind Lê Duẩn.Template:Sfn The office of president retained the second highest rank in the Politburo order of precedence until Nguyễn Minh Triết was appointed in 2006; he ranked fourth in the Politburo hierarchy. The Politburo elected in the aftermath of the 11th National Party Congress (held in January 2011) by the Central Committee elected Trương Tấn Sang as the first-ranking member of the Politburo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This was the first time in Vietnamese history where the highest-ranking member of the Politburo does not hold post of either general secretary or chairman (was in existence from 1951 to 1969) of the party.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since Trương Tấn Sang is first-ranked member of the Politburo, he is the body's unofficial head. Politburo meetings are held regularly; decisions within the Politburo are made through collective decision-making, and policies are only enacted if a majority of Politburo members supports them.<ref name="charter">Template:Cite web</ref>
Term of office
The president is selected for a term of office of five years. The term of office of the incumbent president continues until the president-elect takes office.
On assuming office, the president takes the following oath before the parliament: Template:Blockquote
Duties, powers and responsibilities
The president is the head of state of Vietnam, and his main priority is to represent Vietnam internally and externally.<ref name="Politicalsystem">Template:Cite web</ref> The officeholder is elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam, is responsible to it and reports to it. The tenure of the president is five years, the same as that of the National Assembly. The president continues to serve in his functions until the National Assembly elects a successor. The president has the following executive and legislative powers:
- To promulgate laws, decree-laws and the Constitution,
- To suspend the implementation or abrogation of the documents of the prime minister or the deputy prime minister which contravene the Constitution and the Laws
- To act as the country's commander-in-chief and holds the office of Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council of Vietnam,
- To convene meetings of the National Defense and Security Council of Vietnam,
- The president shall take measures to protect the sovereignty of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam its independence and state integrity, and ensure concerted functioning and interaction of all bodies of state power,
- To propose to the National Assembly the election or dismissal from office of the vice president, the prime minister, the chief justice of the Supreme People's Court and the head of the Supreme People's Office of Supervision and Control,
- The president has the right to preside over meetings of the Government of Vietnam,
- To appoint or dismiss officials, staff and employees of the Office of the President,
- To appoint or dismiss deputy prime ministers, ministers and other members of the government,
- To proclaim a state of war or amnesty,
- On the basis of a Standing Committee resolution, the president can order a general or partial mobilisation, or can proclaim a state of emergency nationwide or in a particular region,
- To propose that the Standing Committee review its decree-laws and resolutions on matters stipulated in Points 8 and 9, Article 91, within the space of ten days following their adoption; if those decree-laws and resolutions are again passed by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly with the country's president dissenting, the latter shall report the matter to the National Assembly for it to decide the issue at its nearest session,
- To appoint or dismiss the deputy Chief justice and judges of the Supreme People's Court and the deputy director of the Supreme People's Office of Supervision and Control,
- To appoint or dismiss the chief of general staff, vice chief of general staff, chief of the General Department of Politics and the vice chief of the General Political Department
- To confer titles and ranks on senior officers of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and bestows "diplomatic titles and ranks, and other State titles and ranks; to confer medals, badges and State honours and distinctions",
- To appoint and recall ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and receive foreign ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, to negotiate and sign international agreements on behalf of the Socialist Republic with the heads of other states; he can approve or join international agreements, except in cases where a decision by the National Assembly is necessary,
- To grant Vietnamese nationality, release from Vietnamese nationality, or deprive of Vietnamese nationality,
- To hold Head of Steering Committee of the Central Judicial Reform,
- To supervise the detection and handles all corrupt behaviors,
- To hold Director of the Economic Council.
The National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) is composed of the president, the prime minister and other members. The members of the NDSC are proposed by the president and approved by the National Assembly. NDSC members do not need to be members of the National Assembly. The decision-making process of the NDSC is that of a collective leadership. Among its powers is the right to mobilise all forces in the name of national defense, and in case of war the National Assembly can entrust the NDSC with special duties and powers.
From the current Constitution of Vietnam, the Vietnamese media has described the presidency to be relatively similar to the presidents of Singapore, Germany, Austria...which are largely ceremonial positions, however, the Vietnamese president still have certain, even though unclear, executive, judicial and legislative powers as designed by the Constitution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On the other hands, presidents of Vietnam are regularly one of the top-ranked members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, making them practically among the most influential figures of the Vietnamese politics alongside the constitutional powers that they gained from their formal presidency. The former president Võ Văn Thưởng was listed as the fourth-ranking figure in the current CPV Politburo, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng served as the state's president from 2018 to 2021 while being the incumbent General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the title for the highest-ranking member in the Politburo as well as in the whole Communist Party of Vietnam that he had held undisrupted since 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
List of presidents of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–1976)
- Status
| Template:Abbr | Portrait | Name | Term of Office | Political Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Template:Smalldiv | ||||||
| style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" |1 | 
|
Hồ Chí MinhTemplate:Ref | 2 September 1945 | 2 September 1969
(Died in office) |
24 years | Indochinese |
| style="background:Template:Party color; color:black" |— | 
|
Huỳnh Thúc Kháng | 29 May 1946 | 21 October 1946 | Template:Age in years and days | Independent |
| style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" |— | 
|
Tôn Đức Thắng | 2 September 1969 | 23 September 1969 | Template:Age in years and days | Worker's Party of Vietnam |
| style="background:Template:Party color; color:white" |2 | 23 September 1969 | 2 July 1976 | Template:Age in years and days | |||
List of presidents of Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)
- Status
_01_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Timeline
<timeline>ImageSize=width:1000 height:auto barincrement:14 PlotArea = top:3 bottom:100 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:1945 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1945
Colors =
id:none value:rgb(0.87,0.87,0.87) legend:Independent id:icp value:rgb(0.5,0.02,0.02) legend:Indochinese_Communist_Party id:wpv value:rgb(0.75,0.02,0.02) legend:Workers'_Party_of_Vietnam id:cpv value:rgb(1,0.02,0.02) legend:Communist_Party_of_Vietnam
Legend = columns:2 left:140 top:60 columnwidth:230
Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y|-3 hours}}
TextData =
pos:(20,65) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Political parties:"
BarData =
bar:HồChíMinh bar:HuỳnhThúcKháng bar:TônĐứcThắng bar:NguyễnHữuThọ bar:TrườngChinh bar:VõChíCông bar:LêĐứcAnh bar:TrầnĐứcLương bar:NguyễnMinhTriết bar:TrươngTấnSang bar:TrầnĐạiQuang bar:ĐặngThịNgọcThịnh bar:NguyễnPhúTrọng bar:NguyễnXuânPhúc bar:VõThịÁnhXuân bar:VõVănThưởng bar:TôLâm bar:LươngCường
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
bar:HồChíMinh from: 02/09/1945 till: 19/02/1951 color:icp from: 19/02/1951 till: 02/09/1969 color:wpv text:"Hồ Chí Minh" bar:HuỳnhThúcKháng from: 29/05/1946 till: 21/10/1946 color:none text:"Huỳnh Thúc Kháng (acting)" bar:TônĐứcThắng from: 02/09/1969 till: 02/07/1976 color:wpv from: 02/07/1976 till: 30/03/1980 color:cpv text:"Tôn Đức Thắng" bar:NguyễnHữuThọ from: 30/03/1980 till: 04/07/1981 color:cpv text:"Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (acting)" bar:TrườngChinh from: 04/07/1981 till: 18/06/1987 color:cpv text:"Trường Chinh" bar:VõChíCông from: 18/06/1987 till: 23/09/1992 color:cpv text:"Võ Chí Công" bar:LêĐứcAnh from: 23/09/1992 till: 24/09/1997 color:cpv text:"Lê Đức Anh" bar:TrầnĐứcLương from: 24/09/1997 till: 27/06/2006 color:cpv text:"Trần Đức Lương" bar:NguyễnMinhTriết from: 27/06/2006 till: 25/07/2011 color:cpv text:"Nguyễn Minh Triết" bar:TrươngTấnSang from: 25/07/2011 till: 02/04/2016 color:cpv text:"Trương Tấn Sang" bar:TrầnĐạiQuang from: 02/04/2016 till: 21/09/2018 color:cpv text:"Trần Đại Quang" bar:ĐặngThịNgọcThịnh from: 21/09/2018 till: 23/10/2018 color:cpv text:"Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (acting)" bar:NguyễnPhúTrọng from: 23/10/2018 till: 05/04/2021 color:cpv text:"Nguyễn Phú Trọng" bar:NguyễnXuânPhúc from: 05/04/2021 till: 18/01/2023 color:cpv text:"Nguyễn Xuân Phúc" bar:VõThịÁnhXuân from: 18/01/2023 till: 02/03/2023 color:cpv from: 21/03/2024 till: 22/05/2024 color:cpv text:"Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (acting)" bar:VõVănThưởng from: 02/03/2023 till: 21/03/2024 color:cpv text:"Võ Văn Thưởng" bar:TôLâm from: 22/05/2024 till: 21/10/2024 color:cpv text:"Tô Lâm" bar:LươngCường from: 21/10/2024 till: $today color:cpv text:"Lương Cường"</timeline>
List of presidents by length of tenure
| Rank | No. | Name | Party | Length of term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Hồ Chí Minh | ICP/WPV | 24 years |
| 2 | 2 | Tôn Đức Thắng | WPV/CPV | 10 years, 210 days |
| 3 | 6 | Trần Đức Lương | CPV | 8 years, 276 days |
| 4 | 3 | Trường Chinh | CPV | 5 years, 349 days |
| 5 | 4 | Võ Chí Công | CPV | 5 years, 97 days |
| 6 | 7 | Nguyễn Minh Triết | CPV | 5 years, 28 days |
| 7 | 5 | Lê Đức Anh | CPV | 5 years |
| 8 | 8 | Trương Tấn Sang | CPV | 4 years, 252 days |
| 9 | 9 | Trần Đại Quang | CPV | 2 years, 172 days |
| 10 | 10 | Nguyễn Phú Trọng | CPV | Template:Age in years and days |
| 11 | 11 | Nguyễn Xuân Phúc | CPV | Template:Age in years and days |
| 12 | — | Nguyễn Hữu Thọ | CPV | 1 year, 96 days |
| 13 | 12 | Võ Văn Thưởng | CPV | Template:Age in years and days |
| 14 | 16 | Lương Cường | CPV | Template:Age in years and days |
| 15 | 13 | Tô Lâm | CPV | Template:Age in years and days |
| 16 | — | Huỳnh Thúc Kháng | None | 145 days |
| 17 | — | Võ Thị Ánh Xuân | CPV | 105 days |
| 18 | — | Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh | CPV | 32 days |
According to Article 93 of the Constitution of Vietnam (2013):
"When the President is incapacitated from work over a long period of time, the Vice President shall act as President. In case of vacancy of the Presidency, the Vice President shall serve as acting President until a new President is elected by the National Assembly."
See also
- List of presidents of Socialist Vietnam
- List of heads of state of Vietnam
- List of spouses of Vietnamese presidents
- Vice President of Vietnam
- Prime Minister of Vietnam
- Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam
- Council for National Defense and Security (Vietnam)
- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
- List of central officeholders in the Communist Party of Vietnam
- Air transports of heads of state and government
References
Notes
<references group="lower-alpha" responsive="1"></references>
Citations
Works cited
Template:Clear Template:VietnamPres Template:Vietnam topics Template:Southeast Asian leaders