The charter of Communist
Party of Vietnam, the 10^th tenure, doesn’t mention the direct
election of the Party Secretary General but if a majority of delegates of the
11^th Party Congress agrees, the Congress can directly elect the
Party Chief, said Tran Luu Hai, Vice Chief of the Party Central Committee’s
Organization Department at a press conference in Hanoi on January 9.

Hai added that the
Central Organization Department has experimentally implemented the direct
election of provincial Party Secretaries at provincial Party Congress in ten
provinces and cities. The pilot program has gained the public support and it
will be expanded in the next tenure.

He also announced
that Party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh, 71, will not participate in the
election of the 11^th Party Central Committee.

Nguyen Bac Son,
Vice Chief of the Party Central Committee’s Information and Education
Department, said that the number of nominees for the election of the 11^th
Party Central Committee will be at least 15 percent higher than the elected
members.

At the press
conference, Financial Times asked “whether the case of the Vietnam Shipbuilding
Industry Group (Vinashin) will be discussed at the 11^th Party Congress?”

Sa Nhat Hoa, from
the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Department, said that Vinashin case had
been solved by competent agencies so it will not be a topic of discussion at
the upcoming Party Congress. However, it can be discussed in groups.

Referring to the
opinions of some retired officials to conduct comprehensively economic and
political renovation, Nguyen Viet Thong, General Secretary of the Central
Theory Council, said that the Communist Party of Vietnam’s viewpoint is
conducting the renovation comprehensively. However, economic renovation will be
carried firstly. Political renovation will be performed in an appropriate
manner to ensure political stability.

In the coming time,
political renovation will focus on renovating the political system, raising the
quality and effectiveness of the operation of the political system, renovating
the leadership of the Party, strengthening the ability and effectiveness of the
State’s guidance, enhancing the participation of social and political organizations,
for example the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

Answering AFP’s
question “Does Vietnam consider pluralism and multiparty in its political
renovation process?”, Dinh The Huynh, Chair of the Vietnam Journalists’
Association, confirmed: “Vietnam doesn’t need pluralism and multiparty and
there will definitively be no pluralism and multiparty in Vietnam because of a
very simple reason: We tested pluralism and multiparty in 1946, with many
parties joining the National Assembly. However, when the French returned to
invade my country, only the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese
people fought for the country’s independence. Now the Communist Party of
Vietnam is still leading the people to victories in building and defending the
country”.

The 11th National Party
Congress will take place in Hanoi
from January 12 to 19 with the participation of 1377 official delegates who
represent more than 3.6 million Party members in 54,000 grassroots Party
organizations.

The congress will
discuss and approve a political report by the CPV Central Committee (10th
tenure), a report reviewing the 20-year implementation of the platform on
national construction in the transition to socialism, and a detailed draft
report that sums up the implementation of the 2011-2010 national socio-economic
development strategy.

It is also expected
to give approval to the platform on national construction in the transition to
socialism (revised and supplemented in 2011), the 2011-2020 national
socio-economic development strategy as well as the amended Party Statute.

The congress will
elect a new Party Central Committee for the 11th tenure of 2011-2015, the
highest body of the CPV leadership between the two congresses.

The National Party Congress is held every
five years.

Thao Lam