Vietnam parliament holds new term’s first session, re-elects chairman

Vuong Dinh Hue was re-elected chairman of the National Assembly Tuesday as the national legislative body started the first session of its 15th term.

Hue won 100 percent of the votes cast by 475 deputies.

Hue, 64, had been voted as chairman of the 14th National Assembly last March.

The native of the central province of Nghe An has a doctorate in economics and has been an academic in Vietnam and abroad.

He was finance minister from August 2011 to May 2013, head of the Central Economic Commission from December 2012 to April 2016 and became deputy prime minister in April 2016.

In February 2020 he became Party Secretary of Hanoi, replacing Hoang Trung Hai, who received a warning from the Politburo for violations at state-owned steel company TISCO.

The first session of the 15th National Assembly, held after the national election in May, will last until July 31. The session has been shortened by five days given nationwide Covid-19 developments.

The session will elect or formally ratify 50 leadership positions including those of the assembly, the government, and Supreme People’s Court, the top prosecution office, and the State Audit Office.

It will also review the country’s social-economic situation, public spending, and issue decisions on two national programs on rural development and poverty alleviation.

By Hoang Thuy – VnExpress.net – July 20, 2021