Vietnam’s National Assembly, the country’s unicameral parliament, has elected General Luong Cuong, who serves as a permanent member of the Communist Party Central Committee Secretariat, as the new president, Vietnamese media reported.
Cuong, a permanent member of the secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, succeeds To Lam, who had served as president since May and became general secretary of the Communist Party in August.
Cuong has been in charge of the party’s day-to-day operations since becoming a permanent member of its secretariat in May, when Truong Thi Mai resigned after being accused of violating party rules.
The decision to elect Luong Cuong, 67, was supported by all 440 deputies present, accounting for 91.67 per cent of the total number of parliamentarians.
According to the Vietnamese Constitution, the National Assembly is the highest organ of state power and has the power to appoint or remove the country’s leadership.
Luong Cuong, born in 1957, began his military career in 1975. The politician worked in various positions in a provincial command and also held political officer positions in the General Political Department of the Vietnamese People’s Army, then in an army corps and a military district.
