VietNamNet Bridge – The National Assembly (NA) Office on
March 14 introduced the list of 61 nominees for the National Assembly election
in May, introduced by the Politburo (9), the Party Secretariat (33) and the
NA’s Party cell (19).

According to the list, three of the current four NA vice
chairs will run for the upcoming election, including Tong Thi Phong, Uong Chu
Luu and Huynh Ngoc Son.

NA Vice Chair Nguyen Duc Kien will not be re-elected.

Many chairs of NA’s committees will not be re-elected
because they exceed the maximum age: Le Quang Binh (NA’s Committee for Defence
and Security), Nguyen Van Thuan (NA’s Committee for Law), Ha Van Hien (NA’s
Committee for Economics), Dang Vu Minh (NA’s Committee for Science, Technology
and Environment), Tran The Vuong (NA’s Committee for People’s Aspiration), etc.

Some vice chairs of NA’s committee will also withdraw from
the NA, for example Nguyen Minh Thuyet of the NA’s Committee for Culture,
Education, Youth and Children.

The list of 61 nominees was approved at the meeting.

The 13^th NA election is scheduled on May 22.

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.

L. Nhung