NA centrally-nominated candidates get the all clear at third consultation round

After the second round in March, the VFFCC sent the biographies of 197 candidates nominated by the Party, NA, government agencies and organizations to their work and living places for comments. Conference minutes showed that voters in these places have given approval to the 197 candidates. Most of the candidates nominated by Party agencies, state presidential agencies, the NA, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Supreme Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam, State Audit of Vietnam and the VFFCC got 100 percent approval ratings from voters.

The Standing Board of the VFFCC had received denunciations and complaints against five centrally-nominated candidates as of April 13. The Standing Board has already sent complaints relating to four candidates to the National Election Council for consideration. The remaining complaint has been processed in accordance with law and proved groundless.

196 out of the 197 candidates got 100 percent approval from the third consultation conference today. The remaining candidate received a lower vote.

Candidate contention

Le Thanh Van, a member of the Hai Duong Party Committee, was finally approved by the consultation conference on Thursday. His candidacy was questioned by some because when he was a permanent member of the NA’s Finance and Budget Committee in 2014, the Secretariat decided to assign him to hold the position of deputy party secretary of Hai Duong. He was elected to Hai Duong's Party Committee in October last year but did not pass a vote to become a member of the standing committee of the provincial party committee despite being nominated.

Le Truyen, former vice chairman of the VFFCC, questioned if the fact that Van was not elected to the province’s standing committee should be considered "a failure to fulfill his duty”, and questioned Van’s qualifications to be nominated as an NA candidate.

Nguyen Ba Duyet, chairman of the Vietnam Relief Association for Handicapped Children, agreed: “I do not want to judge anyone, but I think he should continue to serve in the province as he has a problem with debt.”

Van did not become a member of the province’s standing committee but received a high approval rate from voters, said a representative of the Sub-Committee for Personnel and Settlement of Denunciations and Complaints under the National Election Council.

Tran Ngoc Duong, former chairman of the NA Office, expressed a different point of view: “It does not mean that only elected members of the Politburo are good and those who have failed are not. It is just a political risk. It is normal not to have been elected to the standing committee [of Hai Duong's Party Committee].” Van is a doctor of law and has been approved by voters. There is no reason for the VFFCC not to approve him, Duong added. His opinion was shared by Nguyen Van Rinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange.

The final vote at the conference on Thursday ended with 57 out of 62 attendants approving Van's candidacy.

Vietnam is in the process of selecting 500 members for its NA for the 2016–2021 term. The final list of official candidates is expected to be announced later this month and the general election is scheduled to be held on May 22. Results of the election are expected to be released on June 11.