Vietnam’s president is resigning over offenses against the Communist Party, state media say

Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong has resigned after violating Communist Party rules, state media reported on Wednesday. He is the second president to resign in just over a year. The reports did not provide details of his alleged misconduct.

Although the president is part of a leadership collective – which also includes the leader of the Communist Party, the prime minister and parliament – ​​that governs Vietnam, his position is ceremonial. In recent years, power has largely been consolidated in the hands of party leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

Still, Mr. Thuong’s resignation is likely to upset many officials within a one-party system that prides itself on unity and stability. And it could be a sign of an internal power struggle for Vietnam’s future – Mr Thuong, 53, was the youngest president in recent history and seen as a potential successor to Mr Trong, who is 79 and in poor health and recommended him for the job.

“The mere fact that two presidents have resigned within two years is not a positive sign for a country often praised for its political stability,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting scholar at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a research organization in Singapore. He said Mr Thuong’s resignation marked an “intensifying” period of power struggles within the Communist Party ahead of the next leadership transition in 2026.

The Vietnamese Communist Party has ruled the country for almost fifty years since reunification. In 2021, Mr Trong was reappointed as general secretary for an unprecedented third five-year term as party leaders failed to agree on his successor.

Vietnam is often praised for striking a delicate balance between the United States and China. During his short tenure, Mr. Thuong met many foreign leaders — including President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China — as the world’s superpowers courted Vietnam, home to one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. But the upheaval could deter foreign investors, who have flocked to Vietnam in recent years in the belief that the country offered a stable political environment.

On Wednesday, Vietnam’s state news channels reported that Mr Thuong had asked to resign after the Central Inspection Commission found he had violated rules for party members. It did not specify what those rules were, but the party has often used such language to indicate corruption.

“Thuong’s violations and shortcomings have created bad public opinion, tarnishing the reputation of the party, the state and him personally,” said a report by Dan Tri, a state-run online publication. The report was reproduced verbatim by other state news outlets.

Mr Thuong’s resignation comes amid a years-long anti-corruption campaign that has led to the downfall of many top officials, including his predecessor.

Earlier this month, several top officials in Quang Ngai province were arrested on bribery charges, fueling rumors that Mr Thuong could soon be in trouble. That’s because he was party secretary of that south-central region from August 2011 to April 2014.

Speculation about Thuong’s demise intensified in recent days after a state visit to Vietnam by the Dutch royal family, scheduled for next week, was suddenly postponed.

The sweeping anti-corruption effort was launched in 2016 by Mr Trong, the head of the Communist Party. He said bribery could threaten the survival of the Communist Party, and vowed to root out “evil roots” and cleanse the party. Vietnam ranks 83rd out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index, behind China and Cuba.

Thousands of them party members at all levels have been dismissed from government, dismissed from the party or imprisoned, although many have wondered whether some of these targets were political purges within a closed political system.

The campaign has expanded to the highest levels of party leadership in recent years. Mr Thuong’s predecessor, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, resigned in January 2023. His departure came after authorities said two deputy prime ministers and three ministers had “committed violations” over two scandals surrounding the distribution of Covid test kits and the repatriation of Vietnamese. during the pandemic. In March 2023, Mr Thuong became president.

Several analysts have said the campaign’s results have been mixed. Although red tape and bribery appear to have decreased, there is also a delay in decision-making. Officials have been hesitant to approve business permits for fear of becoming embroiled in a possible investigation. About 40,000 civil servants have resigned since 2020, weakening the bureaucracy.

Mr Giang said it was likely that Mr Thuong was forced to resign over corruption allegations.

“Ultimately, the forced resignations of two presidents send a clear message: no one is safe,” he said.