A politically progressive step in Vietnam

Vietnamese lawmakers handed the prime minister a grudging mandate in the country's first ever confidence vote, a ballot seen as a small step toward a more pluralistic style of governance in the one-party, Communist nation.

Premier Nguyen Tan Dung is under pressure because of his mishandling of the economy, previously one of Asia's best performing but now mired in massive levels of bad debt and a lackluster investment climate. Last year, he survived a leadership challenge at a meeting of top party leaders.

Dung and 46 other ministers and top state officials faced the vote by members of the national assembly, the first in what will be an annual process aimed at showing an increasingly assertive public that its leaders are more responsive to their demands. Voting in what was a secret ballot took place on Monday. Results were announced Tuesday.

Given more than 90 percent of the 498 members of the assembly are Communist Party cardholders, no one expected any of the officials to get the kind of poor showing that could trigger resignations.

Still, more than 30 percent gave Dung a "low confidence" vote, a clear sign of the divisions within the party over his second-term in office, due to end in 2016. Analysts said this showing by itself wouldn't impact his position, but could be used by rivals in internal negotiations over his future.

Assembly members got to vote on whether they had "high confidence," ''confidence" or "low confidence" in the officials. The rules of the secret ballot state that officials with more than a 60 percent "low confidence vote" might have to resign.

Dung received 160 "low confidence" votes out of 492 ballots, the third highest number of negative votes cast. President Truong Tan Sang, the man widely thought to be his main political challenger behind the tightly closed doors of party meetings, got just 28 negative votes.

The central bank governor received 209 "low confidence" marks, presumably a reflection of his handling of the economy. The education minister got 177. Aside from the economy, concern over the poor standard of schools and universities is a major public concern.

"This really does show that the assembly delegates are doing their job," said Edmund Malesky, a Vietnam expert at Duke University in the United States. "There definitely appears to some sort of responsiveness to constituencies. The two people associated with economic performance had a lower percentage of confidence votes than the mean."

National assembly deputy Duong Trung Quoc said the voting reflected "the reality of life and pressing issues and ... partly reflect the people's grievances."

The structural problems plaguing the economy and the increasing criticism and scrutiny of the party over the Internet have triggered calls for reforms by some in the party. While still arresting dissidents, it is revising the constitution, and will possibly water down language over the state's role in the economy.

Jonathan London, a Vietnam expert at Hong Kong's City University, said the ballot showed "Vietnam was charting its own course," albeit slowly. He asserted that a similar event wouldn't happen in China, Vietnam's much larger, Communist neighbor.

"Perhaps by necessity it is going for a brand of politics that has many of the trappings of a semi-accountable system," he said. "For a party that has a tradition of assuming its leaders were pristine and of outstanding caliber, it is a change of tune."

ABC News

Comments

  1. If you examine the contents of the so called "confidence" ballot and the outcome of the vote, this is just another trick of the Communist party to deceive the public and deflect attention away from the ongoing crackdown of bloggers and anti China activitists.

    Known to many in Vietnam, son of a bitch PM Nguyen Tan Dung is notoriously known for incompetence, greed and machiavellism. He doesn't hesitate to use any dirty tricks to eliminate his enemies to preserve his position as the PM. The unlawfull arrest of Cu Huy Ha Vu who sues the PM of various breaches is an example. Cu Huy Ha Vu was arrested in his hotel room. The police found 2 condoms and charges Cu Huy Ha Vu with soliciting prostitution.

    Through his daughter Phuong, he establishes a family dynasty to control and manipulate Vietnam's banking system. His comrades try to loosen his grip by arresting his close business associate. Dung orders the arrest of a prominent blogger Truong Duy Nhat who has written some scathing stories about how incompetent the PM is and the damage he caused to Vietnam.

    Vietnam is known as the habitual human rights offender to the world. Police increased brutality is an ongoing trend. Many bloggers are beaten up and imprisoned for taking part in peaceful Anti China protests. They are subject to torture and rape while in detention. Their trials are not carried out publicly. Even the accused's family members and friends are not allowed to attend court proceedings. Foreign journalists are not allowed to attend.

    Vietnam these days face China as an external enemy. Also, internally the Vietnamese are also subject to the authoritarian rule of the Communist gang which is worse than Mafia.

    Democracy and human rights for Vietnam! Down down the Communists!

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  2. Statement from a network of Vietnamese bloggers: Vietnam is violating human rights.

    The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them.

    As a candidate for the HRC for the 2014-2016 tenure, Vietnam must demonstrate its commitment to cooperating with the HRC and upholding “the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”.

    These obligations and responsibilities do not only apply on the international arena, but also inside Vietnam. The Vietnamese government also needs to review the human rights situation in their own country and the Vietnamese people also have a right to freedom of opinion and expression, including on these matters.

    In order to improve the protection of human rights in Vietnam, we will take HRC's principles as guidelines for our actions, which also comply with Vietnam’s obligations under international human rights law.

    We will:

    - Continue to promote and inform the Vietnamese people about their rights by publicly distributing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), organizing public forums to discuss human rights in Vietnam and advocating for necessary improvements of the respect and protection of human rights.

    - Continue to monitor, publicly report and comment on improvement, setbacks, or violations of human rights in Vietnam, with a focus on policy and practice by the Vietnamese authorities that affect human rights.

    In order to fulfill these responsible actions, we call upon the Vietnamese government and the HRC to review Article 258 of the 1999 Penal Code, amended in 2009 - "crime of abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens".

    In May 2013, two bloggers were detained right after they distributed the UDHR and police accused them of abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State. Only weeks later, two other bloggers were detained after participating an outdoor picnic to discuss the content of the UDHR.

    Most recently, in May and June 2013, Article 258 was used to arrest blogger Truong Duy Nhat, Pham Viet Dao, and Dinh Nhat Uy forexercising their rights of freedom of expression by peacefully publishing texts on their blogs.

    This article is in breach of the Article 19 of the UDHR: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

    It would be a great responsibility to serve as a member stateof the Human Rights Council, and an opportunity to promote human rights domestically and abroad. For a successful candidacy, we believe Vietnam must repeal or make amendments to Article 258 to ensure that Vietnamese people are free to educate themselves about and promote human rights.

    We hope that Vietnam will consider the abrogation of Article 258 to demonstrate its commitment and contribution to promoting and protecting human rights, and we hope that the General Assembly members will push Vietnam to do so during the campaigning period.

    We request Vietnam to present its human rights pledges as a candidate well before the election, to enable members of the General Assembly to assess its human rights commitment. The abrogation of Article 258 should be among the pledges.

    As said by Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General - "All victims of human rights abuses should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard for action". As advocates for freedom of expression in Vietnam and victims of human rights violations because of our activism, we view Vietnam's candidacy for the HRC as a platform for constructive human rights discussions in our country.

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