Vietnam’s communist leader secures presidency, tightens grip on powerBloombergVietnam’s National Assembly yesterday elected Communist Party General Secretary To Lam as president, consolidating the nation’s top party and state roles in a rare concentration of power, as he moves to tighten control and tackle economic headwinds. Lam was the sole nominee for the five-year post, with the assembly’s approval largely a formality in the one-party state. The 68-year-old received 99 percent of the vote in results announced at the parliamentary session in Hanoi. Vietnam’s leadership structure now moves closer to its communist neighbor, where Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) holds both the party’s top post and the state presidency. “The presidency on its own is largely ceremonial, but in combination with the general secretary role, it becomes politically far more consequential.

Source: Taipei Times April 07, 2026 17:13 UTC