List of presidents of Vietnam
The President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), known as Chairman of the Council of State (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch Hội đồng Nhà nước) from 1981 to 1992, is the head of state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Beside, the president is also the head of government with prime minister. Since Vietnam is a single-party state, the president is generally considered to hold the second highest position in the political system, after the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The president represents Vietnam internally and externally, supervises the work as well as preserving the stability of the national governmental system and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The president appoints prime minister, vice-presidents, ministers and other officials with the consent of the National Assembly. The head of state is the de jure commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all the presidents of the Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office. The current President is Nguyễn Phú Trọng, since 23 October 2018 after the former President Trần Đại Quang died in office. He is also the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
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The modern office of the President of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to Hồ Chí Minh, the first President of the Democratic Republic, and the office has no connection, or lineage, officially at least, to the head of state of the former South Vietnam (Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, a communist and the head of state of South Vietnam). Officially there have been 10 presidents of Vietnam, but there have, in total, been 11 presidents if the one of South Vietnam are counted.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–76)
- Status
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of Office | Political Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 |  |
Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969) |
2 September 1945 | 2 September 1969 | 24 years | Indochinese Communist Party (until 1951) Worker's Party of Vietnam (from 1951) |
| — |  |
Huỳnh Thúc Kháng (1876–1947) |
31 May 1946 | 21 September 1946 | 113 days | Independent |
| — |  |
Tôn Đức Thắng (1888–1980) |
2 September 1969 | 23 September 1969 | 21 days | Worker's Party of Vietnam |
| 2 | 23 September 1969 | 2 July 1976 | 6 years, 283 days | |||
Republic of South Vietnam (1969–76)
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of Office | Political Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Chairman of the Consultative Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 |  |
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910–1996) |
8 June 1969 | 2 July 1976 | 7 years, 24 days | People's Revolutionary Party of Vietnam (National Liberation Front) (influenced by Worker's Party of Vietnam) |
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)
- Status
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of Office | Political Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 | |
Tôn Đức Thắng (1888–1980) |
2 July 1976 | 30 March 1980 | 3 years, 272 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| — | |
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910–1996) |
30 March 1980 | 4 July 1981 | 1 year, 96 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| Chairman of the Council of State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 2 |  |
Trường Chinh (1907–1988) |
4 July 1981 | 18 June 1987 | 5 years, 349 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 3 | Võ Chí Công (1912–2011) |
18 June 1987 | 22 September 1992 | 5 years, 96 days | Communist Party of Vietnam | |
| President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 4 |  |
General Lê Đức Anh (1920–2019) |
23 September 1992 | 23 September 1997 | 5 years | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 5 |  |
Trần Đức Lương (1937–) |
24 September 1997 | 26 June 2006 | 8 years, 275 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 6 |  |
Nguyễn Minh Triết (1942–) |
27 June 2006 | 25 July 2011 | 5 years, 28 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 7 |  |
Trương Tấn Sang (1949–) |
25 July 2011 | 2 April 2016 | 4 years, 252 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 8 |  |
General Trần Đại Quang (1956–2018) |
2 April 2016 | 21 September 2018 | 2 years, 172 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| — |  |
Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (1959–) |
21 September 2018 | 23 October 2018 | 32 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 9 |  |
Nguyễn Phú Trọng (1944–) |
23 October 2018 | Incumbent | 2 years, 104 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 10 |  |
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (1954–) |
Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
Timeline
List of Presidents by length of tenure
| No. | Name | Party | Length of term |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hồ Chí Minh | ICP/WPV | 24 years |
| 2 | Tôn Đức Thắng | WPV/CPV | 10 years, 210 days |
| 3 | Trần Đức Lương | CPV | 8 years, 275 days |
| 4 | Nguyễn Hữu Thọ | PRPV/CPV | 8 years, 120 days |
| 5 | Trường Chinh | CPV | 5 years, 349 days |
| 6 | Võ Chí Công | CPV | 5 years, 96 days |
| 7 | Nguyễn Minh Triết | CPV | 5 years, 28 days |
| 8 | Lê Đức Anh | CPV | 5 years |
| 9 | Trương Tấn Sang | CPV | 4 years, 252 days |
| 10 | Trần Đại Quang | CPV | 2 years, 172 days |
| 11 | Nguyễn Phú Trọng | CPV | 2 years, 104 days |
| 12 | Huỳnh Thúc Kháng | Independent | 113 days |
| 13 | Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh | CPV | 32 days |
See also
Notes
- 1.^ These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting head of state. The first column shows how many presidents there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many presidents there was in that state.
- 2.^ The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo.[1] According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he standing for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.[2] The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.[1]
- 3.^ Died in office.
- 4.^ Trường Chinh was ranked 1st in the Politburo hierarchy when Lê Duẩn, the General Secretary of the Central Committee, died on 10 July 1986.
References
- Van & Cooper 1983, p. 69.
- Koh 2008, p. 666.
Bibliography
- Koh, David (July–August 2008). "Leadership Changes at the 10th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party". Asian Survey. 48 (4): 650–672. doi:10.1525/as.2008.48.4.650. JSTOR 3738744.
- Van, Canh Nguyen; Cooper, Earle (1983). Vietnam under Communism, 1975–1982. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817978518.
| Years in Vietnam (1945–present) | |
|---|---|
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| Heads of state of Vietnam since 1945 | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–1976) |
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| State of Vietnam (1949–1955) |  South Vietnam |
| Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975) | South Vietnam
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| Republic of South Vietnam (1969–1976) |  FNL |
| Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present) | Vietnam
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