2011 Vietnamese legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Vietnam on 22 May 2011.[1] Since Vietnam is a single-party state, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam was guaranteed to win a majority.[2]

2011 Vietnamese legislative election
Vietnam
← 2007 22 May 2011 2016 →

All 500 seats in the National Assembly
251 seats needed for a majority
Turnout98.36%
Party Leader Seats +/–
Communist Party Nguyễn Phú Trọng 454 +4
Non-party 42 0
Independents 4 +3
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Nguyen Tan Dung
Communist Party
Nguyen Tan Dung
Communist Party

Campaign edit

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 827 candidates. 31.4% were women, 14.3% were not members of the Communist Party, 16.1% were members of ethnic minorities and 22.1% were candidates running for reelection.[3] Regardless of party standing, all candidates are evaluated by the Fatherland Front.[4]

Originally, 82 people were self-nominated, but of those only 15 were approved by party officials in order to run in the election.[5] However, Vietnam saw an increase of self-nominated candidates (82) in 2011 compared to 30 in 2007.[6] Some pro-democracy and human rights activists were a part of the self-nominated group, who did not receive the required approval. These included lawyers Le Quoc Quan, a former fellow for the National Endowment for Democracy and Cu Huy Ha Vu and Le Cong Dinh, both sentenced to jail for security and propaganda risks against the state.[7]

The 14 politburo seats were also up for election, though these elections were held in small electoral districts chosen by the party leaders. Thus, not all Vietnamese voters had a say in the politburo election decision.[8]

Results edit

During the 2011 election, Vietnam had an estimated 62,200,000 registered voters and of those registered 61,900,000 ballots were reportedly cast.[9] Of the 500 members elected, 333 were first-time members and four were self-nominated. Almost all of them had at least a bachelor's degree; 15.6% were from ethnic minorities, 24.4% were women, and 8.4% were not members of the Communist Party.[10] Non-party members, who managed to gain a seat in the National Assembly, include brother and sister duo Dang Thanh Tam and Dang Thi Hoang Yen from Saigon Investment Group.[11]

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Communist Party of Vietnam454+4
Non-party members420
Independents4+3
Total500+7
Total votes61,965,651
Registered voters/turnout63,000,00098.36
Source: IPU

Aftermath edit

Following the elections, on 25 July the new National Assembly elected Trương Tấn Sang as the new president, with 483 of the 496 National Assembly members voting for him.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ "Truong Sa residents cast early votes in legislative elections". Thanh Nien. May 20, 2011. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  2. ^ Ian Timberlake (May 22, 2011). "One-party Vietnam votes in national election". AFP. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  3. ^ "Vietnam holds National Assembly election - People's Daily Online".
  4. ^ Union, Inter-Parliamentary. "IPU Parline database: Viet Nam (Quoc-Hoi), Last elections". www.ipu.org. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  5. ^ aujourd'hui, Vietnam (2011-05-23). "Vietnamese voters unmoved by election fanfare". blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  6. ^ "Are Vietnam's elections becoming more democratic?". East Asia Forum. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  7. ^ aujourd'hui, Vietnam (2011-05-23). "Vietnamese voters unmoved by election fanfare". blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  8. ^ Ruwitch, John. "Party wins big in Vietnam, but with a few twists". Reuters Blogs. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  9. ^ "IFES Election Guide | Elections: Vietnam Parl May 2011". www.electionguide.org. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  10. ^ "500 legislators elected in Vietnam - People's Daily Online".
  11. ^ "Ballots, banners, but little budging". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  12. ^ Truong Tan Sang elected Vietnamese state president Xinhua, 25 July 2011