Vietnam’s parliament appoints new ministers after To Lam takes top job

Updated Aug. 26, 2024, 06:45 a.m. ET.

Vietnam has announced a shakeup of ministers as To Lam shores up power and continues his predecessor’s anti-corruption campaign, following his elevation to general secretary of the Communist Party this month.

National Assembly members replaced two deputy prime ministers and appointed another – the country’s fifth – at an extraordinary meeting in Hanoi attended by Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice Nguyen Hoa Binh, 66, Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc, 60, and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, 61, became deputy prime ministers.

The shakeup comes after Le Minh Khai was removed from his position as deputy prime minister by the Politburo on Aug. 3 to take responsibility for a land-use scandal in Lam Dong province.

The Politburo also announced this month it was moving Tran Luu Quang from a deputy prime ministerial role to head up the Central Economic Commission.

Parliament also appointed new justice and environment ministers in Monday’s one-day session. 

‘Blazing furnace’ continues

National Assembly Secretary General Bui Van Cuong said parliament would elect a new state president during its October session, Vietnamese media reported. Lam has held the post for three months.

Lam, a former public security minister was elected general secretary – the country’s most powerful position – on Aug. 3, following the death two weeks earlier of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Trong had championed an anti-corruption drive known as the “blazing furnace” to tackle graft among party officials and business leaders.

The campaign claimed the jobs of several senior government members, including Vo Van Thuong, who was forced to step down as president in March after just one year in office.

Lam, 67, took over the presidency on May 22 and had already assumed the general secretary’s role on an interim basis the day before Nguyen Phu Trong’s death.

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Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales Canberra, said it would be unusual for Lam to remain both party secretary general and president.

“Since reunification of Vietnam and the adoption of the 1992 constitution, Vietnam’s party leaders have consistently rejected the idea of merging the office of party general secretary and state president,” said Thayer. 

He said if Lam was able to concentrate on a single role it would give him more time to oversee the selection of the next generation of leaders at the party congress scheduled for early 2026 and continue Trong’s “blazing furnace” campaign.

“No doubt To Lam will be vigorous in opposing any potential candidate involved in corruption or who fails to meet party ethical standards,” he added.

“But the process of vetting must be viewed as fair and balanced across the entire Vietnam Communist Party and not a particular faction or region.”

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

Updated to note election for state president will take place in October.