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Vietnam Government Structure
The National Assembly
Constitutionally, the National Assembly is the highest
government organization and the highest-level representative body
of the people. It has the power to draw up, adopt, and amend the
constitution and to make and amend laws. It also has the
responsibility to legislate and implement state plans and
budgets. Through its constitution-making powers it defines its
own role and the roles of the Council of State, the Council of
Ministers, the People's Councils and People's Committees, the
Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Organs of
Control. The assembly can elect and remove members of the Council
of Ministers, the chief justice of the Supreme People's Court,
and the procurator general of the People's Supreme Organ of
Control. Finally, it has the power to initiate or conclude wars
and to assume other duties and powers it deems necessary. The
term of each session of the National Assembly is five years, and
meetings are convened twice a year, or more frequently if called
for by the Council of State.
Despite its many formal duties, the National Assembly exists
mainly as a legislative arm of the VCP's Political Bureau. It
converts Political Bureau resolutions into laws and decrees and
mobilizes popular support for them. In this role, the National
Assembly is led by the Council of Ministers acting through the
Council of State and a variable number of special-purpose
committees. Actual debate on legislation does not occur. Instead,
a bill originates in the Council of Ministers, which registers
the bill and assigns a key party member to present it on the
floor. Before presentation, the member will have received
detailed instructions from the party caucus in the assembly,
which has held study sessions regarding the proposed legislation.
Once the legislation is presented, members vote according to
party guidelines.
A general national election to choose National Assembly
delegates is held every five years. The first election following
the reunification of the North and South was held in April 1976
and the voters selected 492 members, of which 243 represented the
South and 249 the North. In 1987 the Eighth National Assembly
numbered 496 members. Because successful candidates were chosen
in advance, the electoral process was not genuine. No one could
run for office unless approved by the party, and in many cases
the local body of the party simply appointed the candidates.
Nevertheless, every citizen had a duty to vote, and, although the
balloting was secret, the electorate, through electoral study
sessions, received directives from the party concerning who
should be elected. The elections in 1987, however, were
comparatively open by Vietnamese standards. It was evident that
the party was tolerating a wider choice in candidates and more
debate.
Data as of December 1987
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