Lawmakers on Saturday discussed the issue of abolishing People’s Councils at the ward and district levels and the amended laws on the election . . . Lawmakers on Saturday discussed the issue of abolishing People’s Councils at the ward and district levels and the amended laws on the election of National Assembly and People’s Council deputies.

Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan (left). (Photo: VNN)

According to a report by Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan, a pilot project of the abolishment of People’s Councils at ward and district levels in 10 provinces and cities has shown positive initial results.

The trial project helped tidy up governmental bureaucracy and prevent overlapping in the function and operation of different bodies.

He said the trial was designed to fit the demands for administrative reform, adding that there had been interest from other localities of expanding the model.

The Government proposed two options. The first would be to roll out the abolishment of the councils nationwide commencing May 2011. The second would be for the NA to issue a resolution to expand the trial project to 20 provinces and cities.

However, the report also said the trial was too short to be able to establish a comprehensive assessment of the scheme.

Chairman of the Legal Committee Nguyen Van Thuan said there were still difficulties such as how to replace People’s Councils and a lack of an alternative body to supervise People’s Committees and other judiciary bodies.

He suggested that they continue to monitor the trial and not expand it to other provinces and cities yet.

Most deputies agreed with the opinion of the Legal Committee.

Elections

In the afternoon, the NA Standing Committee discussed the amended laws on the election of NA and People’s Council deputies.

According to NA deputy Pham Minh Tuyen, in 2011 Viet Nam will hold NA and People’s Council elections for the term 2011-16 on the same day.

He said this would cause some problems, especially as the two elections have different regulations.

Tuyen said there needed to be unanimity between the two procedures.

Deputies at the meeting agreed that amendments should only be made to address the problem of holding the elections on the same day.

Another issue touched upon was whether to increase the number of deputies on People’s Councils in big cities.

The Council of Nationalities President Ksor Phuoc said the numbers of deputies in Ha Noi, HCM and other big cities were not large enough to effectively represent residents.

However, NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said this issue should be addressed after a general review of the pilot scheme.

In the conclusion of the 34th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee, NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted the major issues discussed during the six days.

As well as the election laws, the NA Standing Committee discussed six other amendments including amendments to laws pertaining stock exchanges. One draft resolution on tax exemption for agricultural land for 2011-20 was also included in the agenda.

Deputies also talked about the supervision of the NA Standing Committee with the implementation of policies and laws on labour export and the State budget allocation for 2011-15.

Finally, they discussed preparations for the eighth plenary meeting of the National Assembly and the result of the visit of NA Chairman Trong to Cuba and his attendance at the meeting of parlimentary speakers from G20 countries in Canada.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News