Vietnam Communist Party nominates Vo Van Thuong as new president: sources
- Thuong, 52, is widely regarded as being close to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s most powerful figure
- Trong is main architect of corruption crackdown; hundreds of officials investigated and many have quit, including ex-president Nguyen Xuan Phuc
Vietnam’s Communist Party has nominated Vo Van Thuong as the country’s new president, two party sources said on Wednesday, following the sudden forced resignation in January of his predecessor as part of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
The selection of Thuong by the party’s Central Committee upholds an earlier decision by the Politburo. His nomination will need approval by the rubber-stamp National Assembly, which is due to hold an extraordinary session on Thursday and a formal sitting in May.
The government in a statement on Wednesday said the central party committee had agreed on a nomination for president, without naming the candidate
Thuong, 52, will replace Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who was a regular at Davos and was once seen as a contender to take over from Trong. Phuc stepped down in January as president after assuming “political responsibility” for the “violations and shortcomings” involving corruption cases related to a manufacturer of Covid-19 test kits and repatriation flights.
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Vietnamese president Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigns amid major anti-corruption purge