Party chief, prime minister re-elected for new Party Central Committee term

The 13th National Party Congress announced the names of newly elected Party Central Committee members, including 180 official and 20 alternate members.

Trong, 77, and Phuc, 66, were among "special cases" introduced by the 12th Party Central Committee for re-election to the 13th Party Central Committee since they exceed the age limit as per existing regulations.

Trong became General Secretary of the Party Central Committee in 2011, and was re-elected to the position in 2016.

Members of the 12th Politburo who have been re-elected to the new Party Central Committee term are: Pham Minh Chinh, Secretary of the 12th Party Central Committee and head of the Central Organizing Commission; Vuong Dinh Hue, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee; Vo Van Thuong, Secretary of the 12th Party Central Committee and head of the Central Commission for Propagation and Education; Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; To Lam, Minister of Public Security; and Truong Thi Mai, Secretary of the 12th Party Central Committee and head of the Central Commission for Mass Mobilization.

The Politburo is the main decision-making body of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, 61, member of the 12th Party Central Committee, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and Deputy Minister of National Defense, was also elected to the new Party Central Committee as a "special case," having exceeded the age limit under existing regulations.

As per existing regulations, members of the Party Central Committee must not be older than 60 to be re-elected; and the corresponding re-election age limit for members of the Politburo and the Secretariat is 65.

Also in the "special case" category and elected to the 13th Party Central Committee are two deputy ministers of public security Luong Tam Quang and Nguyen Duy Ngoc.

Quang, 56, and Ngoc, 57, both exceed the age limit of 55 for those being elected to the committee for the first time.

Phung Xuan Nha, member of the 12th Party Central Committee and Minister of Education and Training, was not elected to the new Central Party Committee term.

Of the 180 official Party Central Committee members, 120, or 66.6 percent, were re-elected. The remaining 60 were elected for the first time.

There are 19 women and 13 ethnic minority members in the committee.

Of the 180 official members, 62 are secretaries of city or provincial Party Committees, eight are deputy secretaries, 15 are ministers or heads of ministerial-level entities and four are chairpersons of city or provincial People's Committees.

Members aged below 50 account for 17 percent, while those above 60 years old make up 20 percent of the committee's composition.

On Sunday, the 13th Party Central Committee will convene its first plenum to elect the new Politburo, the Party General Secretary, the Secretariat, the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission and this commission's chairperson.

The 13th Party Congress, the nation’s premier political event, opened last Tuesday. It will select the country's leaders for the next five years, besides finalizing socio-economic development policies for the 2021-25 period and orientations until 2030 with a vision towards 2045.

The congress has attracted the highest participation so far, with 1,587 delegates representing 5.1 million Party members from across the country.