(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s parliament has named Politburo member Luong Cuong as president, replacing Communist Party chief To Lam who stepped down from the role in a move that reinforces the government’s collective power sharing.
“I am moved, honored and fully aware of my great responsibilities ahead of the party, the state and the people,” Cuong told the National Assembly. Cuong, 67, is a standing member of the Communist Party Secretariat and former director of the political department in the People’s Army.
By paring Lam’s role to party chief — the country’s most powerful political role — Vietnam is reverting to its “four pillars” structure in which separate leaders hold the key positions of government.
“He served loyally under Nguyen Phu Trong,” Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said of Cuong. “He didn’t have a high profile until he was elevated to the party secretariat in the last year.”
Cuong said he will continue “strengthening national defense and security,” and be consistent in implementing Vietnam’s foreign policy.
The late Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong also became president in 2018, a break from party tradition, following the death of then-President Tran Dai Quang. He relinquished the presidency in 2021.
Lam, 67, the former minister of public security, became the country’s third president in less than two years. His two immediate predecessors resigned for “violations” that were possibly detected by the ministry that Lam oversaw amid a nationwide anti-graft drive.
Lam, who was elected party chief Aug. 3 after the death of longtime Party chief Trong in July, is serving the remainder of Trong’s third term, which ends in early 2026. A general secretary will then be picked to serve a five-year term during the Party Congress.
Lam, Cuong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh are prime candidates to be the next party chief, Thayer said. The next Party Central Committee, which will be chosen by roughly 1,500 Party Congress delegates in early 2026, will choose the new Politburo and party chief.
“To Lam, Luong Cuong, Pham Minh Chinh — or anyone else — are not guaranteed a political life after the Party Congress unless they have support,” Thayer added. “To Lam is powerful. He ran the anti-corruption campaign. He has to now build consensus and focus on domestic issues.”
(Updates with more details throughout)
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