Elections for representatives to the 13th National Assembly and People’s
Councils for the 2011-16 term nationwide yesterday, May 22, took place smoothly,
complying with legal procedures, according to the Elections Council.

Party General Secretary, Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong casts his ballot. (Photos: VNS)

Social security
and order were also maintained during the election day.

Most of provinces
and cities reported more than 90 per cent of their voters had cast ballots.

Notably, the
northern mountainous province of Ha Giang led the country with 99.78 per
cent turnout as of 5pm yesterday, May 22.

The province was
followed by the Central Highland province of Kon Tum with 99.50 per cent;
the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Vinh Long with 98.80 per cent; the
northern mountainous province of Lai Chau with 97.59 per cent; the Central
Highland province of Lam Dong with 96.67 per cent and Ha Noi with 95.36 per
cent.

Party and State
leaders joined voters nationwide in exercising a citizen’s right and duty to
elect deputies to the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels
for the 2011-16 tenure.

Party General
Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong was the first to
cast a ballot at polling station No 3 in Nguyen Du Ward of Ha Noi’s Hai Ba
Trung District, at 7am yesterday.

After fulfilling
his duty as a voter, the leader was immediately surrounded by reporters
asking about National Assembly (NA) and People’s Council elections at all
levels.

President Nguyen Minh Triet votes in HCM City.

Trong said the
careful preparations made by the entire nation for the elections, including
the active role played by citizens in nominating candidates and making
recommendations for their activities upon winning an elected position.

The leader
recognised the unprecedented campaign efforts of potential candidates prior
to the election, saying “the candidates held many meetings with voters in
their election campaigns”.

“With a high
sense of responsibility, I hope that you will all make the right choice for
the best of the best,” Trong said.

At polling
station No 38 in District 3 in HCM City, President Nguyen Minh Triet was
also the first voter to cast his ballot at 7am.

The State leader
said he was happy to engage in his duty as a citizen.

In the northern
port city of Hai Phong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife cast the
first ballots at polling station No 3 in Ly Hoc Commune, Vinh Bao District.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung joins voters in Hai Phong.

Dung said he
believed that voters would select worthy, virtuous and talented people who
would undertake State affairs and strengthen the State’s highest legislative
body.

On the same day,
Truong Tan Sang, Politburo member and standing member of the Secretariat of
the Party Central Committee, joined voters in Tan Dinh Ward, District 1, HCM
City.

He said that it
was the first election to take place during the implementation of the 11h
National Party Congress Resolution with the goal of continuing the cause of
industrialisation and modernisation in an effort to turn Viet Nam into an
industrialised country by 2020.

He emphasised the
people’s desire to make State agencies really those of people, by the people
and for the people, especially the NA with its important role and position
as the highest and most powerful State body.

The festive
atmosphere of the National Assembly and People’s Council elections has
overwhelmed all localities nationwide from the country’s northernmost point
of Lung Cu in Dong Van District, Ha Giang Province to the southernmost Ca
Mau Cape.

At 7am yesterday,
more than 455,000 voters in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang
began to go to the polls to select deputies to the 13th National Assembly
and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2011-16 term.

All roads,
streets and alleys from cities to mountainous and remote villages as well as
polling stations were decorated with flags, flowers, banners, panels and
posters, creating an ebullient atmosphere of the festive day.

In Lung Cu
Commune, the country’s northernmost land, where 87 per cent of the
population are Mong people – voters donned their colourful traditional
costumes to go to the polls.

Walking tens of
kilometers through forests in order to attend the opening ceremony of the
elections at the headquarters of the communal People’s Committee,
83-year-old Mong Vang Thi Mua, of Lo Lo Chai village, said it was the 13th
time she had voted in the NA elections. Every time, she got up early to go
to the polls.

Her
granddaughter, Sung Thi Mai, 18, confided: “This is the first time I have
cast her ballot so I felt very nervous.”

Ha Giang
provincial Department of Home Affairs director Hoang Duc Tien, a member of
the Secretariat of the provincial Election Committee, said that by mid
morning the elections took place smoothly in all polling stations and
constituencies.

The northern
mountainous districts of the Dong Van Stone Plateau and some remote and
border villages ethnic minority people went to the polls very early, despite
difficult travel conditions and big rain the previous night.

Voters in Con Cuong District, Nghe An Province, join more than 62.3 million voters nationwide to elect deputies to the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2011-16 tenure.

In the country’s
southernmost province of Ca Mau, more than 850,000 voters were expected to
cast their ballots at 1,293 polling stations.

For the sick and
elderly, communal officials brought ballot boxes to their homes to help them
perform their right as a citizen.

Since early
morning, all key provincial leaders attended opening ceremonies and cast
their ballots in order to later examine election work in localities.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Thanh Tuoi joined a live
television programme in Cai Nuoc District.

Highest

HCM City had the
highest number of voters in the country at 4.8 million in 2,673
constituencies, followed by the capital city of Ha Noi with 4.7 million
voters.

Huynh Dam,
chairman of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, was among the
first voters at polling station No 27 on District 5’s Nguyen Kim Street.

“I’m confident
that elected candidates will stick to the action plans they have presented
to voters and fulfil their responsibilities as people’s representatives and
executors of their power,” he said.

The polling
station has a roster of around 1,700 voters including many
Chinese-Vietnamese, most of whom are tenants of nearby Nguyen Kim tenement
buildings.

“I spotted some
candidates who are good enough,” said Phan Hiep Huy, 55, a driver of Chinese
origin, adding that he had gone over the resumes of candidates carefully
before he cast his ballot.

“I hope that
elected deputies are sagacious enough to address our concerns,” he said,
noting that streamlining red tape was his biggest concern.

Huy was the first in his family
of 10 members to go to the polling station. All the other members said they
would follow his example and cast their votes during the day.

Pham Thi Ty, 50,
was also among the first voters, limping to the polling station on a crutch.

“I don’t want to
bother the election team to bring the ballot box to my apartment,” she said.
“But I’m afraid of long queues, so I came here as soon as the polling
station opens.”

Ty is not
literate, but she said she had heard details of each candidate’s
qualifications at a neighbourhood meeting held prior to Election Day.

“I hope the
deputies will pay more attention to people with disabilities,” she said,
noting that she received a mere VND270,000 (US$13) in monthly allowance
allotted for poor and disabled people.

At another
polling station on District 10’s Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, almost 50 per cent
of around 2,000 voters listed are of Chinese origin.

Chinese-Vietnamese Nguyen Cam Binh, 20, said he was nervous and glad at the
same time because he was casting the ballot for the first time in his life.
“I’m glad that although I am a young student, I can participate in the
election,” he said. “But I’m nervous because I’m afraid I can make wrong
choices.”

Lam Binh Vinh,
deputy secretary of the local Party committee, said that the local election
commission printed and distributed 1,200 leaflets about candidates in the
Chinese language to local voters.

“We also
organised sessions to brief voters about the candidates in Chinese, and
residents were very attentive,” he said, adding that all polling stations
would wait for last-minute voters until 7pm.