In a single-party communist state one would expect the process of picking the country’s new leaders to be a smooth-sailing affair with no dramas.
Not so this time. Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it is clear that the Communist Party’s eight-day Congress set to open Thursday was the kind of political cliffhanger that would do a democracy proud, as a battle for power hinged on a last-minute procedural question.
After weeklong deliberations, the congress of 1,510 delegates will select a new set of leaders to rule Vietnam for the next five years: the president, the prime minister, the chairman of the National Assembly, and most importantly, the party’s general secretary, the de-facto national leader. He is first among equals in the Politburo that runs the country as well as in the party.
A rare and intriguing contest arose between 71-year-old incumbent Nguyen Phu Trong, a conservative party stalwart, and Nguyen Tan Dung, 66, a two-term prime minister with greater ambitions who projected himself as a pro-business, economic reformist.
On Wednesday, just a day before the Congress was to open, Trong (pronounced “Chong”) appeared to have secured his job, according to news leaked from party insiders, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to release such information. In keeping with the close nature of the proceedings, no confirmation of the news was immediately available.( Grant Peck)
Link: http://atimes.com/2016/01/vietnams-communist-party-set-to-reinstall-conservative-as-chief/
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