HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday opened an eight-day congress that will culminate with the naming of a set of leaders who will govern the country for the next five years.
Held every five years, the Communist Party of Vietnam’s 12th Congress has brought together 1,510 delegates representing Vietnam’s 63 provinces, ministries, and other party organizations.
It ends Jan. 28 when the names of the new general secretary, the prime minister, the president, the chairman of the National Assembly and other top functionaries are announced. The general secretary is the de facto No. 1 leader of the country, although Vietnam professes a collective leadership through a Politburo that handles day to day affairs, and a larger Central Committee that meets twice a year to decide policy.
Vietnam is one of the last remaining communist nations in the world, with a party membership of 4.5 million, but like its ideological ally China, the government believes in a quasi-free market economy alongside a strictly controlled society that places several restrictions on its 93 million people.
The congress is not expected to hold any major surprises. Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it appeared Wednesday that an internal power struggle had ended before the congress, and the tussle was won by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, 71, (pronounced New-yen Foo Chong) who is expected to keep his job, albeit for half the five-year term in an apparent compromise.