The people who
independently stand for the 13^th National Assembly election total
81, from 21 provinces and cities.

An independent candidate registers for the election at the Hanoi Department of Justice

According to Nguyen
Van Pha, Vice Chair of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, 42
provinces and cities don’t have independent candidates while Hanoi
has 30 and HCM City has 22 candidates.

After the second
consultation meeting, the total number of candidates for the upcoming National
Assembly in the country is 1,088, including 183 nominated by central agencies
and 905 by local governments while the number of NA deputies is 500.

Pha said that the
qualifications of nominees is higher than the previous tenure.

The third
consultation meeting is scheduled in mid-April to finalize the list of
candidates for the 13^th NA election.

The NA election
will take place on May 22 2010. This will be the first time people will be
casting their votes for the NA and People’s Councils at all levels on the same
day.

The Constitution of
Vietnam recognizes the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
as “the highest organ of state power.” The National Assembly, a
493-member unicameral body elected to a five-year term, meets twice a year. The
assembly appoints the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of the
Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam, the Head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy
of Vietnam, and the 21-member Cabinet.

The National
Assembly is the highest government organization and the highest-level
representative body of the people. It has the power to draw up, adopt, and
amend the constitution and to make and amend laws. It also has the
responsibility to legislate and implement state plans and budgets. Through its
constitution-making powers it defines its own role and the roles of the
Vietnamese State President, the Vietnamese Government, the local people’s
councils and people’s committees, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme
People’s Procuracy. The assembly can elect and remove members of the Council of
Ministers, the chief justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and the procurator
general of the People’s Supreme Organ of Control. Finally, it has the power to
initiate or conclude wars and to assume other duties and powers it deems necessary.
The term of each session of the National Assembly is five years, and meetings
are convened twice a year, or more frequently if called for by the Council of
State.

PV