The deputy prime minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), known as the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers () from 1981 to 1992, is one of the highest offices within the Central Government. The deputy prime minister has throughout its history been responsible for helping the prime minister to handle Vietnam's internal policies. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all the deputy prime ministers of the Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office.
There are currently nine deputy prime ministers: Nguyá»Â
n Hòa Bình, Trần Há»Âng HÃÂ, Lê Thành Long, Há» ÃÂức Phá»Âc, Bùi Thanh Sán, Nguyá»Â
n ChÃÂ DÃ
©ng, Mai VÃÂn ChÃÂnh, Phạm Thá» Thanh Tràand Há» Quá»Âc DÃ
©ng. Each deputy prime minister is responsible for one particular field of the country.
The Permanent Deputy Prime Minister, also known as the First Deputy Prime Minister (), is a senior member of the Central Government and usually a member of the Politburo. The Permanent Deputy Prime Minister ranks second in the cabinet after the Prime Minister and above all the other deputy prime ministers and ministers. This position is currently held by Nguyá»Â
n HoàBình since August 2024.
All deputy prime ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister with consent from the National Assembly.
See also
Notes
1. The Politburo of the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the CPV and the Central Government. The membership composition, and the order of rank of the individual Politburo members is decided in an election within the newly formed Central Committee in the aftermath of a Party Congress. The Central Committee can overrule the Politburo, but that does not happen often.
2. These numbers are official. The "âÂÂ" denotes acting deputy prime minister. The first column shows how many deputy prime ministers there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many deputy prime ministers there was in that state.
3. The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo. 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 Há»Âng 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 stood for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee. The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.
References
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