VietNamNet Bridge – The National Assembly (NA) Office on March 14 introduced the list of 61 nominees for the National Assembly election in May, introduced by the Politburo (9), the Party Secretariat (33) and the NA’s Party cell (19).

 
According to the list, three of the current four NA vice chairs will run for the upcoming election, including Tong Thi Phong, Uong Chu Luu and Huynh Ngoc Son.

 

NA Vice Chair Nguyen Duc Kien will not be re-elected.

 

Many chairs of NA’s committees will not be re-elected because they exceed the maximum age: Le Quang Binh (NA’s Committee for Defence and Security), Nguyen Van Thuan (NA’s Committee for Law), Ha Van Hien (NA’s Committee for Economics), Dang Vu Minh (NA’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment), Tran The Vuong (NA’s Committee for People’s Aspiration), etc.

 

Some vice chairs of NA’s committee will also withdraw from the NA, for example Nguyen Minh Thuyet of the NA’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children.

 

The list of 61 nominees was approved at the meeting.

 

The 13th NA election is scheduled on May 22.

 

This will be the first time people will be casting their votes for the NA and People’s Councils at all levels on the same day.

 

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, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam, the Head of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam, and the 21-member Cabinet. 

 

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 members of 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.

 

L. Nhung