The President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước Cộng hoà Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam) is, according to the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the elected head of state of Vietnam, holds the second highest office in Vietnam. In addition, the president appoints the head of government, the Prime Minister. In this capacity, the President represents the government both domestically and internationally, and maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The President appoints the Vice President, Prime Minister, Ministers and other officials with the consent of the National Assembly. The President is furthermore the Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces, Chairman of the Council for Defense and Security. Moreover, Member of Political Bureau, Standing Member of the Central Military Commission and the Central Police Party Committee. Since September 2011, the President is also the Head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform. The tenure of the President is five years, and a president can only serve three terms. If the President becomes unable to discharge duties of office, the Vice President or Prime Minister assumes the office of acting president until the President resumes duty, or until the election of a new president.
The powers and prestige of the office of President have varied over the years. For instance, while the inaugural president, Hồ Chí Minh, was also the Chairman of the Communist Party, making him the first ranking member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, served as a symbolic figure along with the General Secretary Lê Duẩn. Since Trường Chinh's ascension to the presidency, the President has been ranked 1st or 2nd in the order of precedence of the Communist Party's Politburo except President Nguyen Minh Triet ranked fourth and President Vo Chi Cong ranked third. The current president is Trần Đại Quang, since 2 April 2016. He is ranked second in the Politburo hierarchy, after General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.
|President of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Trần Đại Quang
since 2 April 2016
(in international correspondence)
|Status||1st or 2nd in Politburo|
|Member of||Political Bureau
Central Committee of the Communist Party
Central Police Party Committee
Central Military Commission
|Residence||Presidential Palace, Hanoi, Vietnam|
|Term length||Five years
|Constituting instrument||Constitution of Vietnam|
|Inaugural holder||Hồ Chí Minh
26 August 1945
|Formation||2 September 1945|
|Deputy||Vice President of Vietnam|
|Website||Official website (Vietnamese)|
Hồ Chí Minh was appointed Vietnam's first president in 1946 by the National Assembly. Both the 1946 and 1959 Constitutions stated that the National Assembly had the power to appoint and dismiss the President. The President represented Vietnam both internally and externally. The powers and responsibilities of the President remained unchanged in the 1959 constitution. The 1980 constitution transformed the office of head of state dramatically. The office of President was abolished and replaced with the office of Chairman of the Council of State (CC). The CC chairmanship was modelled after the Soviet office of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Council of State, as with the Council of Ministers, was a collective decision-making body. Both the Council of State and the Council of Ministers were part of the executive branch; the strengthening of these institutions weakened the role of the legislative branch. The duties, powers and responsibilities of the Council of State were taken from the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which lost most of its powers and prestige in the 1980 Constitution.
The members of the Council of State were elected by the National Assembly and consisted of a chairman, deputy chairmen, a General Secretary and other members. Council of State members could not concurrently be members of the Council of Ministers. The Chairman of the Council of State was concurrently Chairman of the National Defense Council (later the National Defense and Security Council) and commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces. The Council of State supervised the works of other institutions, most notably the Council of Ministers, the Supreme People's Organ for Control and the People's Councils at all levels. It also presided over the elections of the National Assembly. The office of Chairman of the Council of State, the head of state, was abolished in the 1992 Constitution and replaced by the office of President.
The importance of the President has not remained constant throughout Vietnamese history. For instance, while Hồ Chí Minh was ranked as first member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, was a symbolic figure with little power. The post of head of state was strengthened in the 1980 Constitution by the appointment of Trường Chinh who was, by order of precedence, the second-highest-ranking member in the Politburo, behind Lê Duẩn. The office of President retained the second highest rank in the Politburo order of precedence until Nguyễn Minh Triết was appointed in 2006; he ranked fourth in the Politburo hierarchy. The Politburo elected in the aftermath of the 11th National Party Congress (held in January 2011) by the Central Committee elected Trương Tấn Sang, the current President, the first-ranking member of the Politburo. This was the first time in Vietnamese history where the highest-ranking member of the Politburo does not hold post of either General Secretary or Chairman (was in existence from 1951 to 1969) of the party. Since Trương Tấn Sang is first-ranked member of the Politburo, he is the body's unofficial head. Politburo meetings are held regularly; decisions within the Politburo are made through collective decision-making, and policies are only enacted if a majority of Politburo members supports them.
The President is selected for a term of office of five years. The term of office of the incumbent president continues until the President-elect takes office
On assuming office, the president takes the following oath before the parliament:
In my capacity as President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, I swear complete allegiance to the country, people, and constitution; to fulfill the tasks assigned by the State, and people 
The President is the head of state of Vietnam, and his main priority is to represent Vietnam internally and externally. The officeholder is elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam, is responsible to it and reports to it. The tenure of the President is five years, the same as that of the National Assembly. The President continues to serve in his functions until the National Assembly elects a successor. The President has the following executive and legislative powers:
The National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) is composed of the President, the Prime Minister and other members. The members of the NDSC are proposed by the President and approved by the National Assembly. NDSC members do not need to be members of the National Assembly. The decision-making process of the NDSC is that of a collective leadership. Among its powers is the right to mobilise all forces in the name of national defense, and in case of war the National Assembly can entrust the NDSC with special duties and powers.
Article 93 of the Constitution of Vietnam. In the event of the president not being able to discharge the duties of his/her office, Vice President, the Prime Minister and ministers in line of the order of succession shall be the acting president
|Image||Name||Term of office||Age|
|Lê Đức Anh||1992–1997||97 years, 46 days|
|Trần Đức Lương||1997–2006||80 years, 256 days|
|Nguyễn Minh Triết||2006–2011||75 years, 100 days|
|Trương Tấn Sang||2011–2016||68 years, 360 days|