Vietnam completes key preparations for general elections

The preparations for the upcoming National Assembly and People’s Council elections, scheduled for May 23, have been basically completed, according to the National Election Commission.

Permanent member of the Secretariat Vo Van Thuong meets with Da Nang voters via a video link.
Permanent member of the Secretariat Vo Van Thuong meets with Da Nang voters via a video link.

The number of candidates for the 15th National Assembly totals 866, from which 500 will be elected.

A breakdown of candidates shows that 393 are women, 185 are members of ethnic minority groups, 74 are non-Party members, 224 are under 40 and 9 are self-nominated candidates.

Among the 866 candidates, 204 are seeking re-election to the National Assembly.

For the provincial People’s Councils, voters will select 3,726 representatives from a total of 6,199 candidates, while 22,952 representatives will be picked from 37,468 candidates at the district level.

At the commune level, voters will elect 242,312 representatives from 405,244 candidates.

According to the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, at the request of election commissions in 15 provinces and cities, early elections will be held in some remote, border and island areas to help ensure a high voter turnout.

On May 17 and 19, Politburo member and Permanent member of the Secretariat Vo Van Thuong attended virtual meetings between voters of Da Nang and National Assembly candidates representing the central city.

At the meetings, Thuong presented his action programme, in which he vowed to put forward substantive measures to build Da Nang into a major centre of Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

He also pledged to step up Party rectification and the fight against corruption in the spirit that there are no no-go areas, no exclusions and no influence from any organisations nor individuals.