By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
Voice of America
29 May 2007
Communist Party candidates have been elected to more than 90 percent of the seats in Vietnam's National Assembly. The government announced the results of the May 21 election on Tuesday. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi.
There were 875 candidates running for 500 seats in last week's Vietnamese National Assembly elections. But the outcome was never in doubt.
Bui Ngoc Thanh, the head of the National Assembly's electoral council, announced that 91 percent of the 493 winning candidates were members of the Communist Party.
Thanh says the election reflected the Vietnamese people's confidence in the Communist Party's reformist economic policies, and the people's right to self-government.
Vietnam maintains a one-party system. The National Assembly has gained some influence since 1992, when a new constitution assigned it a greater role in government. Once a rubber-stamp body, it now debates changes to the law, and often questions government leaders.
In these elections, the government declared it wanted to broaden participation to more non-Party members, but Thanh says those efforts were disappointing.
He says the government had hoped to get 50 non-Party members as delegates, but only 43 were elected.
The nomination process was controlled by a powerful Communist Party-affiliated organization called the Fatherland Front. Almost all the candidates, including the non-party members, are nominated by the Party, or by mass organizations like the Women's Union.
In principle, Vietnamese citizens can run as "self-nominated," or independent, candidates. But such candidates face tough scrutiny. Hundreds volunteered, but only 30 made it through the pre-election approval process.
When the results were announced, it turned out that of those 30, only one had been elected.
Officials said 99.6 percent of Vietnam's voters cast their ballots in the elections. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung won his National Assembly seat, in the city of Haiphong, with 99 percent of the vote.
There were 875 candidates running for 500 seats in last week's Vietnamese National Assembly elections. But the outcome was never in doubt.
Bui Ngoc Thanh, the head of the National Assembly's electoral council, announced that 91 percent of the 493 winning candidates were members of the Communist Party.
Thanh says the election reflected the Vietnamese people's confidence in the Communist Party's reformist economic policies, and the people's right to self-government.
Vietnam maintains a one-party system. The National Assembly has gained some influence since 1992, when a new constitution assigned it a greater role in government. Once a rubber-stamp body, it now debates changes to the law, and often questions government leaders.
In these elections, the government declared it wanted to broaden participation to more non-Party members, but Thanh says those efforts were disappointing.
He says the government had hoped to get 50 non-Party members as delegates, but only 43 were elected.
The nomination process was controlled by a powerful Communist Party-affiliated organization called the Fatherland Front. Almost all the candidates, including the non-party members, are nominated by the Party, or by mass organizations like the Women's Union.
In principle, Vietnamese citizens can run as "self-nominated," or independent, candidates. But such candidates face tough scrutiny. Hundreds volunteered, but only 30 made it through the pre-election approval process.
When the results were announced, it turned out that of those 30, only one had been elected.
Officials said 99.6 percent of Vietnam's voters cast their ballots in the elections. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung won his National Assembly seat, in the city of Haiphong, with 99 percent of the vote.
6 comments:
90% of the people approved of the
government is expected anywhere
in Asia when the country is rapidly
growing and developing. Even
vietnamese abroad who hated
communist are not as critical of
the communist government today as
they used to be. However, I think
the actual number is really in the
mid 70% or low 80% because there
are still a lot of jobless in
vietnam. And jobless people are
alway critical of the government,
but with hope in site, a good
number of them still support
the government.
On the other hand, I am skeptical
of Iraq government during Saddam
leadership. I am not blaming Saddam,
but the economic sanction and
embargo had brought their growth
to a stand still. Thus, the 90%
of people approval toward their
government is highly unlikely.
Hey guys, check this out:
There were 875 candidates running for 500 seats in last week's Vietnamese National Assembly elections. But the outcome was never in doubt.
Vietnam population is about 80
millions and they only have 500
seats. If you do the math, 80m/500,
you get 160,000 people/MP.
And if you do the math for
Cambodia, 14m/123, you get about
114,000 people/MP and these morons
got the gut to complaint, hahaha,
LOL, hahaha, What's a bunch of
bayyybeeeess?
Election in Cambodia, the voters decide nothing but the counters, NEC and CPP, decide verything. So enjoy the elections.
AZ
Voting is not a Khmer's thing. So,
what difference does it makes? And
yes, we will enjoyed the free
snacks, T-shirt, caps, and gifts!!!
Voting is not a Youn's thing. So,
what difference does it make for
communist youn?
True, and who say it made a
difference? They just want the
democracy look as everyone else.
Muah hahahaha ... !!!
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