VietNamNet Bridge – Elections for representatives to the 13th National Assembly and People's Councils for the 2011-16 term nationwide yesterday, May 22, took place smoothly, complying with legal procedures, according to the Elections Council.

Social security and order were also maintained during the election day.

Most of provinces and cities reported more than 90 per cent of their voters had cast ballots.

Notably, the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang led the country with 99.78 per cent turnout as of 5pm yesterday, May 22.

The province was followed by the Central Highland province of Kon Tum with 99.50 per cent; the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Vinh Long with 98.80 per cent; the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau with 97.59 per cent; the Central Highland province of Lam Dong with 96.67 per cent and Ha Noi with 95.36 per cent.

Party and State leaders joined voters nationwide in exercising a citizen's right and duty to elect deputies to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2011-16 tenure.

Party General Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong was the first to cast a ballot at polling station No 3 in Nguyen Du Ward of Ha Noi's Hai Ba Trung District, at 7am yesterday.

After fulfilling his duty as a voter, the leader was immediately surrounded by reporters asking about National Assembly (NA) and People's Council elections at all levels.

Trong said the careful preparations made by the entire nation for the elections, including the active role played by citizens in nominating candidates and making recommendations for their activities upon winning an elected position.

The leader recognised the unprecedented campaign efforts of potential candidates prior to the election, saying "the candidates held many meetings with voters in their election campaigns".

"With a high sense of responsibility, I hope that you will all make the right choice for the best of the best," Trong said.

At polling station No 38 in District 3 in HCM City, President Nguyen Minh Triet was also the first voter to cast his ballot at 7am.

The State leader said he was happy to engage in his duty as a citizen.

In the northern port city of Hai Phong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife cast the first ballots at polling station No 3 in Ly Hoc Commune, Vinh Bao District.

Dung said he believed that voters would select worthy, virtuous and talented people who would undertake State affairs and strengthen the State's highest legislative body.

On the same day, Truong Tan Sang, Politburo member and standing member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee, joined voters in Tan Dinh Ward, District 1, HCM City.

He said that it was the first election to take place during the implementation of the 11h National Party Congress Resolution with the goal of continuing the cause of industrialisation and modernisation in an effort to turn Viet Nam into an industrialised country by 2020.

He emphasised the people's desire to make State agencies really those of people, by the people and for the people, especially the NA with its important role and position as the highest and most powerful State body.

The festive atmosphere of the National Assembly and People's Council elections has overwhelmed all localities nationwide from the country's northernmost point of Lung Cu in Dong Van District, Ha Giang Province to the southernmost Ca Mau Cape.

At 7am yesterday, more than 455,000 voters in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang began to go to the polls to select deputies to the 13th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2011-16 term.

All roads, streets and alleys from cities to mountainous and remote villages as well as polling stations were decorated with flags, flowers, banners, panels and posters, creating an ebullient atmosphere of the festive day.

In Lung Cu Commune, the country's northernmost land, where 87 per cent of the population are Mong people – voters donned their colourful traditional costumes to go to the polls.

Walking tens of kilometers through forests in order to attend the opening ceremony of the elections at the headquarters of the communal People's Committee, 83-year-old Mong Vang Thi Mua, of Lo Lo Chai village, said it was the 13th time she had voted in the NA elections. Every time, she got up early to go to the polls.

Her granddaughter, Sung Thi Mai, 18, confided: "This is the first time I have cast her ballot so I felt very nervous."

Ha Giang provincial Department of Home Affairs director Hoang Duc Tien, a member of the Secretariat of the provincial Election Committee, said that by mid morning the elections took place smoothly in all polling stations and constituencies.

The northern mountainous districts of the Dong Van Stone Plateau and some remote and border villages ethnic minority people went to the polls very early, despite difficult travel conditions and big rain the previous night.

In the country's southernmost province of Ca Mau, more than 850,000 voters were expected to cast their ballots at 1,293 polling stations.

For the sick and elderly, communal officials brought ballot boxes to their homes to help them perform their right as a citizen.

Since early morning, all key provincial leaders attended opening ceremonies and cast their ballots in order to later examine election work in localities. Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Pham Thanh Tuoi joined a live television programme in Cai Nuoc District.

Highest

HCM City had the highest number of voters in the country at 4.8 million in 2,673 constituencies, followed by the capital city of Ha Noi with 4.7 million voters.

Huynh Dam, chairman of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, was among the first voters at polling station No 27 on District 5's Nguyen Kim Street.

"I'm confident that elected candidates will stick to the action plans they have presented to voters and fulfil their responsibilities as people's representatives and executors of their power," he said.

The polling station has a roster of around 1,700 voters including many Chinese-Vietnamese, most of whom are tenants of nearby Nguyen Kim tenement buildings.

"I spotted some candidates who are good enough," said Phan Hiep Huy, 55, a driver of Chinese origin, adding that he had gone over the resumes of candidates carefully before he cast his ballot.

"I hope that elected deputies are sagacious enough to address our concerns," he said, noting that streamlining red tape was his biggest concern.

Huy was the first in his family of 10 members to go to the polling station. All the other members said they would follow his example and cast their votes during the day.

Pham Thi Ty, 50, was also among the first voters, limping to the polling station on a crutch.

"I don't want to bother the election team to bring the ballot box to my apartment," she said. "But I'm afraid of long queues, so I came here as soon as the polling station opens."

Ty is not literate, but she said she had heard details of each candidate's qualifications at a neighbourhood meeting held prior to Election Day.

"I hope the deputies will pay more attention to people with disabilities," she said, noting that she received a mere VND270,000 (US$13) in monthly allowance allotted for poor and disabled people.

At another polling station on District 10's Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, almost 50 per cent of around 2,000 voters listed are of Chinese origin.

Chinese-Vietnamese Nguyen Cam Binh, 20, said he was nervous and glad at the same time because he was casting the ballot for the first time in his life. "I'm glad that although I am a young student, I can participate in the election," he said. "But I'm nervous because I'm afraid I can make wrong choices."

Lam Binh Vinh, deputy secretary of the local Party committee, said that the local election commission printed and distributed 1,200 leaflets about candidates in the Chinese language to local voters.

"We also organised sessions to brief voters about the candidates in Chinese, and residents were very attentive," he said, adding that all polling stations would wait for last-minute voters until 7pm.