Vietnam’s lawmakers meet to confirm new leadership

Vietnam’s newly-installed National Assembly, the national legislature, opened its first plenary session Wednesday to rubber-stamp the leadership lineup that was elected by the outgoing parliament last April.

The 494-member legislature is set to reappoint President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Assembly chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Vietnam's National Assembly holds first session in Hanoi on July 20. Photo by VnExpress/Thang Huy

In May, around 69 million Vietnamese cast their votes to choose representatives for an intended 500-seat house, in an election that is held every five years. 

Just days before the Assembly convenes, two out of the 496 lawmaker-elects were dismissed.

On July 15, Trinh Xuan Thanh, former vice chairman of Hau Giang's provincial government, was stripped of his status after the Communist Party held him accountable for massive losses at a major state-owned oil corporation he chaired several years ago and rebuked him for illegally using a government license plate on his private luxury car.

The other, Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, has been found in breach of Vietnam's Law on Nationality, which prohibits Vietnamese citizens from having dual citizenship. Huong, who also holds the Malta citizenship, was dismissed two days after Thanh.

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