Vietnam nominates public security minister to be new president
Vietnam’s Communist Party has nominated public security minister To Lam to be the country’s new president, state media said Saturday, after his predecessor resigned as part of a sweeping anti-graft purge.
Thousands of people — including top officials and senior business leaders — have been caught up in the Southeast Asian country’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on graft, led by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
The party’s central committee agreed to “the nomination of Comrade To Lam, Politburo member, Minister of Public Security to be elected as President”, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
Lam, 66, has been public security minister since 2016 and has taken a hard line on human rights movements in the communist country.
His nomination follows Vo Van Thuong’s resignation in March after just one year as president, becoming the latest high-profile leader to fall in the anti-corruption drive.
Tran Thanh Man, 61, was also nominated as the new head of Vietnam’s National Assembly, state media said, becoming one of the country’s four most powerful leaders.
Man, currently the rubber-stamp National Assembly’s deputy chairman, succeeds Vuong Dinh Hue, who asked to step down last month because of “violations and shortcomings”.
The nominations have been accepted by the party’s central committee but will be officially voted in by the National Assembly, which is due to meet next week.
All top leadership “must be truly united, truly exemplary, wholehearted and devoted to the common cause”, VNA reported the central committee as saying.
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