Final list of NA candidates announced; 11 self-nominees remain

By Vo Hai, Vuong Anh   April 26, 2016 | 04:28 am PT
Final list of NA candidates announced; 11 self-nominees remain
Chief of the National Election Council Nguyen Hanh Phuc chaired the international press conference on April 26. : Giang Huy
The final list of candidates for Vietnam's next National Assembly was announced by the National Election Council at an international press conference held in Hanoi this afternoon.

General Secretary of the National Assembly Office and Chief of the Election Council Nguyen Hanh Phuc said there are 870 candidates in total to fill the 500 seats on the country’s highest legislative body,

The candidites have passed three consultation rounds held by the Vietnam Fatherland Front that oversees the selection process.

“Among the candidates, there are 197 who were nominated by the Central Committee, 673 were recommended by their localities and 11 are self-nominees,” Phuc said.

Questions were raised by the press as only a few independent runners remain on the final list of parliamentary hopefuls candidates.

Phuc said the large number of self-nominees was a sign that many people are interested in contributing to the country and the NA. However, all candidates must earn votes of confidence to get through all the consultation rounds, according to regulations, he said.

Regarding the failure of prominent candidates to make it onto the list such as journalist Tran Dang Tuan, Phuc said: “To have high votes of confidence among local voters but fail to get through the third consultation round is not unusual.”

According to the chief of the election council, party and state leaders are allocated for nomination across all regions. Many leaders were wanted by three or four provinces to become their representative, such as Chairwoman of the NA Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Phuc said.

After the second consultation round, 1,146 nominated candidates and 154 self-nominees remained. Of these candidates, there were 339 women (40 percent); 204 ethnic minorities (23.45 percent); 97 independent candidates (11.15 percent); 168 reelected candidates (19.31 percent); and 268 candidates under the age of 40 (30.80 percent).

Vietnam is in the process of selecting 500 members for its NA for the 2016–2021 term. A general election will be held on May 22. The results of the election are expected to be released on June 11.

 
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