This is a list of presidents () of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam () and its predecessor state, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (), from the establishment of the position (1945) to the present.
Vietnam is a single-party state and the president is generally considered to hold the second highest position in the political system, after the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In its current incarnation, the officeholder is the head of state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, as well as the head of government in tandem with prime minister. The president represents Vietnam internally and externally, supervises the work as well as preserving the stability of the national governmental system and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country. The president appoints prime minister, vice-president, ministers and other officials with the consent of the National Assembly. The head of state is the de jure commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all but one presidents of the Democratic Republic and its successor Socialist Republic have been members of the party (or its predecessors) while holding office.
The modern office of the president of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to Há» ChàMinh, the first president of the Democratic Republic. The office has no connection, or lineage, to the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, headed by National Liberation Front revolutionary Nguyá» n Hữu Thá»Â. There have been 14 presidents since the office's establishment in 1945. The current president is Lðáng Cðá»Âng since 21 October 2024.
Há» ChàMinh, the first officeholder, became president in 1945 after Vietnam's declaration of independence. Tô Lâm is the shortest-serving president, with 152 days (from May 22, 2024 to October 21, 2024), if not counting interim presidents. The longest-serving president was Há» ChàMinh, with 24 years from 1945 to his death in 1969. He also served the most terms in office (1945, 1946, 1960, 1964) â tied with Tôn ÃÂức Thắng, who was also in office for 4 terms (1969, 1971, 1975, 1976). The Constitution stipulates that the term of office of the president shall follow the term of the National Assembly (usually 5 years) and there is no limit to the number of re-elections. However, most presidents serve for one term. The president with the longest interim term is Nguyá» n Hữu Thá» with 1 year and 96 days, longer than the term of official President Võ VÃÂn Thðá»Âng, which lasted 1 year and 19 days.