Thorough preparations are underway for the upcoming election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly (NA) and people’s councils at all levels in the 2021-2026 tenure, which are slated for May 23.
As an important political event, the elections offer an opportunity for people to exercise their right to mastery and vote for virtuous and talented deputies who represent the people’s will and aspirations to the NA and all-level people’s councils, thus contributing to building, consolidating and completing the rules-based socialist State of the people, by the people, and for the people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), said Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.
As an important political event, the elections offer an opportunity for people to exercise their right to mastery and vote for virtuous and talented deputies who represent the people’s will and aspirations to the NA and all-level people’s councils, thus contributing to building, consolidating and completing the rules-based socialist State of the people, by the people, and for the people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)
On June 20, 2020, the Politburo issued Directive No 45-CT/TW ordering that the political system spare no effort to prepare the necessary conditions for the elections.
On January 14 this year, the NA, NA Standing Committee, the National Election Committee, the Prime Minister, and relevant agencies completed the issuance of documents providing guidance on issues relating to the elections.
Five days later, the National Election Committee issued a plan that included 16 milestones in the elections.
A national conference was held on January 21 to publicise related Party and State documents.
According to the Politburo’s conclusion on the directions for the NA elections, deputies to the NA and people’s councils at all levels must be loyal to the nation, the people, and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and make all-out efforts to broadly promote the “Doi Moi” (renewal) process, allowing Vietnam to advance towards becoming an equitable, democratic, and civilised society.
The Party Central Committee’s Organisation Commission has issued guidance on personnel work for the upcoming elections, providing detailed stipulations on standards for full-time deputies. Nominees for full-time NA deputies must have been included in existing personnel planning for the positions of full-time NA deputies or deputy minister or equivalent. Meanwhile, at the local level, they must have been included in existing personnel planning for the position of director of a department or equivalent.
There are several new features in the upcoming elections, including a regulation requiring that a candidate must win the confidence of over 50 percent of voters in his or her residential area. Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee Ngo Sach Thuc said that voter confidence is an important measurement of eligibility during the selection of candidates.
Meanwhile, in the run-up to election day, the Committees of the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels are strictly organising consultative conferences, with nationality, incomes, and assets given due attention in the evaluation of candidates’ qualification for election.
Taking place from February 3 to 17 across the country’s 63 cities and provinces, the first consultative conferences demonstrated the spirit of democracy, in which all people were allowed to offer comments on the draft documents from the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels as well as on the standards for eligible candidates.
The VFF Central Committee said the first consultative conferences agreed on the lists of 1,076 candidates to be nominated for the NA election, or 2.15-times the number of deputies to be elected. The difference between the number of candidates and deputies to be elected was 2.04-times in the 14th NA elections and 2.2-times in the election to the 13th legislature.
Hau A Lenh, member of the Party Central Committee, Vice President and Secretary-General of the VFF Central Committee, and deputy head of the VFF Central Committee’s steering board for election affairs, said that to gear up for the second round of consultative conferences, the VFF has provided instructions to central agencies and localities on the nomination of candidates, the organisation of voter meetings at candidates’ workplace to look into candidates’ dossiers, and the selection of eligible and outstanding persons for candidacy.
The second round of consultative conferences is to begin on March 19.
The VFF is now stepping up monitoring and examination to gain a good grasp on the implementation of election affairs in localities, thereby identifying any difficulties or violations of election regulations or electoral rules and taking timely measures to ensure that elections are truly democratic and accord with the law./.