Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09HANOI142
2009-02-23 02:53:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Hanoi
Cable title:  

Vietnam Shelves Local Elections for Other Local Government

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL VM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9162
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5588
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VM

SUBJECT: Vietnam Shelves Local Elections for Other Local Government

Reforms

HANOI 00000142 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000142

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS and DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VM

SUBJECT: Vietnam Shelves Local Elections for Other Local Government

Reforms

HANOI 00000142 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Although a long-stated goal of the Communist
Party of Vietnam is to move toward direct election of local
officials, the National Assembly and the Politburo have decided to
shelve this goal indefinitely in favor of other changes designed to
streamline local government. These new efforts would strengthen
local executive bodies and eliminate the legislative branch of local
government, People's Councils, while also combining the position of
local Communist Party Chairman with that of People's Committee
Chairman. This restructuring is currently being enacted as a pilot
program in selected localities. Significant hurdles remain before
the program could be put into place nationwide. If implemented
fully, the moves would eliminate Vietnam's only local-level direct
elections, further centralize and strengthen the power of People's
Committee Chairmen and the Communist Party at all levels and give
provincial officials greater authority over localities under their
purview, while moving away from direct democracy at the local
level.


2. (SBU) COMMENT: These pilot programs may be designed to make
local administration more efficient, but we hesitate to call them
reform. While hardly free or fair, the election of People's
Councils did inject at least some degree of popular participation
and accountability into an otherwise opaque process and their
elimination is a step backward. The decision by the Politburo and
the National Assembly to put off direct elections of local
executives is similarly disappointing. Absent any significant local
check on their authority, combining the roles of Party and People's
Committee Chairman could actually make Vietnam's endemic corruption
worse at the local level. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

Role of People's Councils and People's Committees
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) People's Committees and People's Councils are mandated
under the 1992 Constitution in all provinces and provincial-level
cities, as well as in a host of lower-level jurisdictions, including
districts, cities, towns, communes, and wards. People's Councils
are the "legislative body," while People's Committees serve an
executive function. People's Council members are currently

"elected" to serve five-year terms and are responsible for resolving
administrative disputes, approving budgets, and debating economic
development plans. The People's Councils choose the Chairman of the
People's Committee. The Chairmen of the People's Committee and the
People's Council together serve as Vice Chairmen of the Communist
Party for their jurisdiction.

Eliminating People's Councils
--------------


4. (SBU) In an effort to streamline local government, the National
Assembly last fall approved a pilot project that would abolish
People's Councils at the district level. Originally, this
legislation was scheduled to move forward jointly with legislation
that would also allow for the direct election of People's Committee
Chairman at the village or commune level. In the end, however, the
National Assembly decided to move forward with scrapping local
People's Councils while deferring consideration of direct local
elections. On February 3, the Assembly's Standing Committee named
the first ten cities and provinces that will abolish local People's
Councils. The first stage of the program, which begins in April,
includes 99 districts and wards and 483 communes in Hai Phong, Da
Nang and Ho Chi Minh cities as well as provinces in northern Lao
Cai, Vinh Phuc and Nam Dinh; the central Quang Tri and Phu Yen
provinces; and southern Kien Giang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces.


5. (SBU) Officials from the Local Government Department of the
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told Poloff that these provinces and
cities had all volunteered to participate in the project; in fact,
many more localities volunteered than had been expected. The
officials explained that there were two main reasons why provincial
Party leadership would find the restructuring attractive: 1)
eliminating the People's Councils would free up funds, and 2)
provincial officials would enjoy more direct influence at the local
level. As a result, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed
to expand the program below the district level to a large number of
communes as well. MHA Officials noted that if the program proves as
useful as hoped, the end goal would be to eliminate People's
Councils entirely.


6. (SBU) MHA Officials admitted that the pilot project would have
to be implemented quickly in order to allow the government to
evaluate its effectiveness and determine whether the program should
be implemented nationwide as the next round of People's Councils
"elections" are scheduled to take place in 2011. Expanding the
pilot program nationwide would also require a Constitutional
amendment, they explained, because the Constitution mandates the
establishment of People's Councils and stipulates that that the
Councils are responsible for choosing local People's Committee

HANOI 00000142 002 OF 002


Chairmen. Similarly, local officials in Lang Son province and
Danang city informed the DCM that even if the GVN went forward with
direct elections of commune level People's Committee Chairmen it
would also require a change to the constitution due to the fact that
the constitution stipulates that People's Councils shall choose
People's Committee Chairmen.

Double-Hatting; Direct Elections on Hold Indefinitely
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) The second, equally significant, change would be to
combine the roles of local People's Committee Chairman and Communist
Party Chairman. As Nguyen Chi Dzung, senior lecturer at the
National Assembly's Training Center, explained to Poloff, the
restructuring had already been approved by the Politburo. Asked
whether this would mean that local Party Chairmen would eventually
be elected -- since the Party had earlier stated its intent to allow
direct elections of People's Committee Chairman at the village or
commune level -- MHA officials acknowledged that plans for direct
elections had been put on hold indefinitely.

Who Wins: Local (Unaccountable) Bosses
--------------


8. (SBU) The big winners are, naturally, the local People's
Committee Chairmen who have long sought more power to implement
plans for their localities but who often lack authority to make
simple budgetary and personnel decisions. Not only will they no
longer have a People's Council to contend with, as Party Chair, they
will be the unambiguous voice of the CPV. In a meeting with Emboffs
on February 4, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Dinh
not surprisingly waxed enthusiastic about the pilot program, saying
that it was a "great honor" to have been chosen. The other likely
winners, presumably, are provincial-level Party bosses, who now will
have to contend with fewer lower-level players. Administration
will, at least in theory, be more directly hierarchical, as --
crucially -- will be promotions. But while more efficient on
paper, the new structure may not be any better at controlling
Vietnam's endemic local-level corruption. Under the new system,
accountability will be focused upward, toward one's superiors in the
Party, not outward toward one's constituency.

Michalak