VietNamNet Bridge – “Democracy is a pyramid-shaped procedure. It is necessary to have many nominees for public election, like at beauty contests,” said National Assembly (NA) deputy Le Van Cuong at an NA group meeting on October 25.

Assembly to approve 10 draft laws

 

 

 

NA deputies on October 25 discussed in groups the Law on Election of NA Deputies and the Law on Election of Deputies of People’s Councils.

 

Deputy Vu Quang Hai from Hung Yen province said that  people’s democratic rights will be violated if NA deputies are still selected according to current procedures, with the Party presenting the nominees.

 

Deputy Le Van Cuong from Thanh Hoa province voiced his concern that if the Party’s leadership is enhanced, democracy will weaken. He suggested recommending many nominees for open selection, like at beauty contests.

 

Deputy Nguyen Lan Dung from Dak Lak province said that the NA only selects 500 deputies from 87 million people, this means they must be the most outstanding people.

 

“We have to choose the most talented people. The deputies for the youth must be the most outstanding young people. The deputies for ethnic minority groups must be the best people of these groups. The deputies who are not Party members must be non-Party deputies from the beginning to the end. They should not become Party members after they are elected to the NA,” Dung said.

 

Dung’s opinion was supported by many NA deputies.

 

Deputy Dinh Muok proposed that it is unnecessary to request provinces to choose nominees who belong to a certain ethnic group because “there are 5-6 ethnic groups in a province. It is not good for the province to always recommend nominees of a certain ethnic group as NA deputies. Let the province decide who should be notminated.”

 

Deputy H’Luoc Ntor suggested choosing ethnic minority nominees who have worked for 10-15 years in the fields of education and healthcare. “Voters don’t want to elect deputies who are too young,” he said.

 

Deputies said that the laws need to specify what nominees for the membership in the NA and the People’s Councils are allowed to do and how much money they are allowed to spend while they run for election.

 

KLinh – T. Chung – L. Nhung