In his opening remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr Do Xuan Tuat, Deputy Director of the Institute of Ho Chi Minh and Party Leaders, stressed that at the very first meeting of the Provisional Government, President Ho Chi Minh identified the organisation of a general election and the drafting of a democratic constitution as top priorities.
The success of the general election on January 6, 1946 marked a major milestone in the development of Viet Nam’s democratic institutions and paved the way for the establishment of the first-tenure NA.
According to Tuat, from the first to the third tenures of the NA, President Ho Chi Minh consistently viewed the legislature as the centre of state power and the highest representative body of the people. During nearly 25 years as head of state, he devoted significant efforts to building a constitutional and lawful state apparatus grounded in the principle that all power belongs to the people.
During the resistance war against French colonialists, the NA and the Government served as a crucial political foundation helping the country overcome numerous challenges.
Tuat affirmed that Ho Chi Minh’s ideological legacy on democracy, the rule of law and great national unity continues to provide an important theoretical foundation for the ongoing building of a socialist rule-of-law state in Viet Nam. Over the past 80 years, under the guidance of his thought, the NA has continued to develop and contribute significantly to the cause of national development and defence, as well as the country’s development goals until 2030 and vision towards 2045.
In his presentation, Assoc. Prof. Dr Vo Xuan Vinh, Director of the Institute of History under the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, highlighted President Ho Chi Minh’s decisive role in the success of the August Revolution, the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the foundation of Viet Nam’s first democratic institution.
He noted that despite immense pressure and sabotage attempts faced by the young revolutionary government, Ho Chi Minh remained committed to organising the general election based on universal suffrage, direct voting and secret ballots, granting Vietnamese people the right to determine their own political destiny for the first time.
Vinh stressed that Ho Chi Minh was not only the leader of the August Revolution but also the “architect” of the modern Vietnamese state, opening a new era of national independence associated with the people’s right to mastery.
Director of the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site at the Presidential Palace Le Thi Phuong said the first session of the NA was not merely a political event but also a milestone in translating Ho Chi Minh’s thought on democratising state power into reality.
According to her, Ho Chi Minh’s core principle was that all state power belongs to the people, with the NA serving as the highest representative body of the people’s will and aspirations. State power must be controlled through the Constitution and law to prevent corruption and abuse, she added.
The official said the first-tenure NA marked the first establishment in Viet Nam of a state mechanism that was “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Phuong also underscored Ho Chi Minh’s ideology of great national unity, reflected in the broad composition of the first-tenure NA and the resistance coalition government, which brought together nearly 300 delegates from different social classes, religions, political parties and social groups.
Ho Chi Minh’s proposal to include representatives from Viet Quoc and Viet Cach political parties demonstrated his mindset of placing national interests above political differences in order to strengthen the legitimacy and unity of the revolutionary government, she added.
According to Phuong, the 1946 Constitution institutionalised many of Ho Chi Minh’s key ideas, including the principle that power belongs to the people, the guarantee of democratic freedoms, and mechanisms for the division and supervision of state power, thereby laying the legal foundation for the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.
Delegates at the seminar agreed that the first session of the first-tenure NA not only held immediate historical significance but also laid a lasting foundation for the building of a socialist rule-of-law state in Viet Nam.
President Ho Chi Minh was recognised as the figure who laid the “first bricks” for Viet Nam’s modern democratic state and left enduring values on democracy, the rule of law and national unity that remain highly relevant to the country’s ongoing renewal and institutional reform efforts.
