The
Constitution of Vietnam
recognizes the
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam ( ) as "the highest organ of state power." The
National Assembly, a 493-member
unicameral body elected to a five-year term,
meets twice a year. The assembly appoints the
President (
head of state), the
Prime Minister (
head of government), the
Chief Justice of the
Supreme People's Court of
Vietnam, the Head of the
Supreme People's Procuracy
of Vietnam (or 'Supreme People's Office of Supervision and
Inspection'), and the 21-member
Cabinet (the
executive). Ultimately, however, the
Communist Party of Viet
Nam (CPV) has great influence over the executive and exercises
control through the 150-member
Central
Committee, which elects the 15-member
Politburo at national party congresses held every
five years. Members of the party hold all senior government
positions.
National Assembly building, Hanoi,
Vietnam
Constitutionally, the National Assembly is the highest government
organization and the highest-level representative body of the
people. It has the power to draw up, adopt, and amend the
constitution and to make and amend laws. It
also has the responsibility to legislate and implement state plans
and budgets. Through its constitution-making powers it defines its
own role and the roles of the
Vietnamese State President, the
Vietnamese Government, the
local people's councils and people's committees, the Supreme
People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuracy. The assembly
can elect and remove membersof the Council of Ministers, the chief
justice of the Supreme People's Court, and the procurator general
of the People's Supreme Organ of Control. Finally, it has the power
to initiate or conclude wars and to assume other duties and powers
it deems necessary. The term of each session of the National
Assembly is five years, and meetings are convened twice a year, or
more frequently if called for by the Council of State.
Despite its many formal duties, the National Assembly exists mainly
as a legislative arm of the Political Bureau of the
Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
It converts Political Bureau resolutions into laws and decrees and
mobilizes popular support for them. In this role, the National
Assembly is led by the Council of Ministers acting through the
Council of State and a variable number of special-purpose
committees. Actual debate on legislation does not occur. Instead, a
bill originates in the Council of Ministers, which registers the
bill and assigns a key party member to present it on the floor.
Before presentation, the member will have received detailed
instructions from the party caucus in the assembly, which has held
study sessions regarding the proposed legislation. Once the
legislation is presented, members vote according to party
guidelines.
History of the National Assembly of Vietnam
The
precursor of the current National Assembly of Vietnam was the
National Representatives' Congress (Đại hội đại biểu quốc
dân), convened on August 16, 1945 in the northern province of
Tuyên
Quang
. This Congress supported
Viet Minh's nation-wide general uprising policy
against Japanese and French forces in Vietnam. It also appointed
the National Liberation Committee (
Uỷ ban dân tộc giải
phóng) as a provisional government.
- The First National Assembly (1946-1960)
After a
series of events which was later called collectively as the
"August Revolution",
Viet Minh seized the power all over the
country, and the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (Việt Nam dân chủ cộng hoà) was declared by
Hồ Chí Minh in Ha Noi
on September
2, 1945. On January 6, 1946, the first general election ever
in Vietnam was held all over the country in which all people
18-year old or older were eligible to vote.The first session of the
First National Assembly (
Quốc hội khoá I) took place on
March 2, 1946 with nearly 300 deputies in the
Great Theatre of Hanoi.
Nguyen Văn Tố was appointed as
the Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee. The
First National Assembly approved
Hồ Chí
Minh as the head of government and his cabinet, and the
former-Emperor
Bảo Đại as
the Supreme
Advisor. The second session,
Bùi Bằng Đoàn was
appointed to be the Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing
Committee. Since 1948,
Tôn Đức Thắng is
Acting Chairman and since 1955 is Chairman of the Standing
Committee, while Đoàn died.
The first and second Constitutions of the
Democratic Republic of
Vietnam were passed by this National Assembly in 1946 and 1960,
respectively.The term of the First National Assembly was prolonged
(14 years) due to the war situation in Vietnam, particularly the
partition of Vietnam according
to the
Geneva Accords 1954. From 1954
to 1976, the National Assembly's activities were only effective in
North Vietnam.
- The Second National Assembly (1960-1964)
Due to the
partition of Vietnam
and the declaration of the
Republic
of Vietnam in the South, a nation-wide general election could
not be organized. The Second National Assembly was formed by 362
elected deputies of the North and 91 deputies of the South from the
First National Assembly who continued their term.
Trường Chinh was appointed as the
Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee and held
this position until 1981.
- The Third National Assembly (1964-1971)
The Third National Assembly consisted of 366 elected deputies from
the North and 87 deputies continuing their term. The Third National
Assembly's term was prolonged due to the war situation. President
Hồ Chí Minh died during the
Third National Assembly's term, and was succeeded by
Tôn Đức Thắng.
- The Fourth National Assembly (1971-1975)
Four hundred and twenty deputies were elected for the Fourth
National Assembly. During fourth term, the U.S. withdrew its troops
from Vietnam in accordance with
Paris Peace Accords 1973.
- The Fifth National Assembly (1975-1976)
The Fifth National Assembly consisted of 424 elected deputies. The
fifth term was the shortest National Assembly's term as it was
shortened to organize the nation-wide general election after the
re-unification of Vietnam.
- The Sixth National Assembly (1976-1981)
This was the first election following the reunification of the
North and South and the voters selected 492 members, of which 243
represented the South and 249 the North.
In this term, the
National Assembly adopted the name the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam (Cộng hoà xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) for the
re-unified country, merged corresponding organizations between the
Government of North Vietnam and the
Provisional Revolutionary Government of the
Republic of South Vietnam, and re-named Saigon as Ho Chi Minh
City
. It also approved the new Constitution in
1980.
- The Seventh National Assembly (1981-1987)
The Seventh National Assembly and its 496 members witnessed the end
of the Vietnamese centralized and heavily-planned economy and the
CPV's launch of the
Renewal Policy (
Vietnamese:
Đổi mới) to adopt market economy.
Trường Chinh was elected as
Chairman of the State Council
and
Nguyen Huu Tho was elected as
Chairman of the National Assembly.
- The Eighth National Assembly (1987-1992)
In previous elections, because successful candidates were chosen in
advance, the electoral process was not genuine. No one could run
for office unless approved by the Communist Party, and in many
cases the local body of the party simply appointed the candidates.
Nevertheless, every citizen had a duty to vote, and, although the
balloting was secret, the electorate, through electoral study
sessions, received directives from the party concerning who should
be elected. The elections in 1987, however, were comparatively open
by Vietnamese standards. It was evident that the party was
tolerating a wider choice in candidates and more debate.The 1987
election chose 496 deputies for the Eighth National Assembly. In
this term, the National Assembly approved the 1992 Constitution, in
which the citizen's personal ownership of properties in business
was guaranteed.
Lê Quang
Đạo was appointed to be the National Assembly's Chairman.
- The Ninth National Assembly (1992-1997)
The 1992 election established the first National Assembly after the
1992 Constitution came into effect. From this term, the National
Assembly's agenda has been filled with law-making procedures to
serve the
Đổi mới Policy.
Nông Đức Mạnh was
elected as the National Assembly's Chairman and he served this
position until 2001.
- The Tenth National Assembly (1997-2002)
During the tenth term, Chairman
Nông Đức Mạnh was
chosen to be the
CPV's Secretary-General in its
Ninth Congress and ceased his role as the National Assembly's
Chairman.
Nguyễn Văn An
was appointed to replace Mạnh.
- The Eleventh National Assembly
(2002-2007)
National Assembly consisted of 498 elected deputies. On 2002 Nguyễn
Văn An elected as the Chairman of the National Assembly.On June 26,
2006, Mr. Nguyễn Phú Trọng was elected as the Chairman of the
National Assembly .
- The Twelfth National Assembly (2007-2012)
The Twelfth National Assembly (2007-2012) numbers 493 members. In
this term,
Nguyễn
Phú Trọng was officially elected as the Chairman of the
National Assembly.
Structure
- The Standing Committee: This is the standing
body of the National Assembly, including the Chairman/Chairwoman,
Deputy Chairmen/Chairwomen, and other standing members. The number
of the Standing Committee's members is decided by the National
Assembly, these members must not concurrently hold a position in
the cabinet. The Standing Committee of previous term shall continue
their duties until the newly-elected National Assembly establishes
its new Standing Committee. The Standing Committee's constitutional
duties include: (1) preparing, convening, and chairing the National
Assembly's sessions; (2) explaining/interpreting the Constitution,
laws, acts, and ordinances; (3) promulgating ordinances at the
National Assembly's request; (4) supervising the implementation of
the Constitution and laws, and the activities of the Government,
the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuracy; (5)
supervising and guiding the activities of provincial people's
councils (local legislative bodies); (6) directing and
co-ordinating the activities of the National Assembly's Ethnic
Council and other committees, providing guidance and guaranteeing
the deputies' working conditions; (7) approving the cabinet's
personnel affairs in between the National Assembly's sessions and
making reports to the National Assembly in the next session; (8)
declaring wars if necessary in between the National Assembly's
sessions and making reports to the National Assembly in the next
session; (9) launching general mobilization or partial
mobilization, and declaring national or local state of emergency if
necessary; (10) performing external relation activities of the
National Assembly; and (11) organizing referendum at the National
Assembly's request.
- The Ethnic Council: The main duties of the
Ethnic Council are to contribute to, to investigate, and to
supervise the legal documents (laws, acts, ordinances) and legal
procedures on ethnic issues.
- Other Committees include: (1) Committee of
Laws; (2) Committee of Justice; (3) Committee of Economy; (4)
Committee of Financial and Budget Affairs; (5) Committee of
National Defense and Security; (6) Committee of Culture, Education,
Adolescents and Children Affairs; (7) Committee of Social Affairs;
(8) Committee of Science, Technology and Environment; and (9)
Committee of External Relations.
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See also
References
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