Posters for upcoming 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Việt Nam on the street of Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Đức

Vietnam News Agency talks to Nguyễn Thanh Bình, permanent deputy head of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee's Organisation Commission, on personnel issues and voting regulations for the country's leaders on the cusp of the 13th National Party Congress

Could you tell us about the quality of officials planned to be elected to the 13th tenure Party Central Committee compared to the 12th tenure?

Based on the assessment results of the strategic personnel for the 2016-21 term and following terms as well, the Politburo has directed the building and implementation of a scheme on formulating a personnel planning for the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat and other key Party and State officials for the 2021-26 term, in a way that is democratic, infallible, objective, transparent, and effective.

The planning features a new reformed approach in terms of perspectives, objectives, criteria, procedures, and methods for each group of positions, while at the same time, clearly defines the role and responsibilities of each Party organisations and advisory organisations in introducing, proposing, and evaluating people to be placed in the strategic personnel planning.

The list of officials in the strategic personnel planning for positions in the Party Central Committee, essentially, has ensured the right quota and quality, the officials have undergone five training classes for newly picked strategic-level officials and constitute a very important pool of human resources to be used in the personnel preparation works for the 13th Party Congress.

What can be considered the highlights or new in the orientations for building the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and introducing key officials for the 13th tenure?

Personnel preparation is closely and directly supervised by the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat, to ensure the principles of democratic centralism, unity, high level of consensus, to uphold the effectiveness, logicality, orderliness, and comprehensiveness in line with the motto “Do step by step, procedure by procedure, position group by position group starting from the lowest, ensuring that decisions are made prudently and deliberately".

The issues between criteria and composition, universality and specificity, one’s field of training and one’s forte and practical capacity, between experience and development trajectory, have been dealt with, with strong consideration for effectiveness and quality, while making sure the ratio in terms of geographical matters, fields of work, age, gender, or ethnicity will be suitable.

With that being said, we will not lower the criteria for the sake of ensuring certain quotas. We absolutely won’t let in those who are unqualified and unworthy into the Party Central Committee, and at the same time, we won’t pass up on people who are truly virtuous, capable, and esteemed in the Party ranks and highly regarded by the public.

The personnel works for the 13th tenure Party Central Committee have to take into account the quality and ratio issues, as well as aspects like stability, continuity, renewal, undisrupted development and a coherent transition between generations.

On the basis of the personnel preparation works, at the 13th, 14th and 15th Plenum of the Party Central Committee, the 12th tenure Party Central Committee has prudently come to an agreement on the list of candidates to submit to the 13th National Party Congress for consideration and election in line with regulations.

How many members will there be on 13th tenure Party Central Committee according to the current planning?

The 13th tenure Party Central Committee will have 200 members, including 180 official members and 20 alternate members.

Could you tell us more about the exemptions, or 'special cases,' who have been proposed to be re-elected to the Party Central Committee in the coming tenure?

Based on the current situation, taking into consideration the criteria as well as the superiority in terms of political virtues, practical capacity, reputation in the Party and among the public – in addition to the requirements asked of key officials in Party Central Committee and State agencies, the 12th tenure Party Central Committee has carefully deliberated, thoroughly reviewed and meticulously and objectively carried out the due processes and has come to a decision – with a high degree of consensus – to select a number of officials considered to be “special cases”, both re-elected ones and first-timers, to be submitted to be reviewed at the 13th National Party Congress to be elected to the 13th tenure Party Central Committee and Politburo.

Could you tell us some of the criteria and composition of the delegates participating in the 13th National Party Congress?

On the criteria to choose delegates to take part in the congress, the Party Central Committee has outlined virtues such as political astuteness, morality, lifestyle, capacity, reputation in the Party organisation – and of course, the participants should be healthy enough.

There will be 1,587 delegates participating in the upcoming congress, including 1,381 official delegates elected in the centrally-run 2020-25 tenure Party congresses, 15 overseas delegates appointed by the Politburo, and 191 delegates which are the official and alternate members of the 12th tenure Party Central Committee. Of the total delegates, 222 are women (accounting for 13.99 per cent), and 175 are from ethnic minority groups (accounting for 11.03 per cent).

In terms of age, 57 delegates are below the age of 40 (3.59 per cent), three are above 70 years old. The average age of the delegates is 52.2 years old, with the oldest being 76 years old and the youngest 33 years old.

In terms of educational level, 1,067 delegates hold master’s or doctorate degrees (making up 67.32 per cent of the total), 71 delegates – or 4.47 per cent – are professors or associate professors. 1,579 delegates – or 99.49 per cent of the total – have had bachelor or advanced-level ideological and political theory training.

What is new in the upcoming congress’s working and voting regulations?

The drafts of the working and voting regulations have been meticulously developed based on the results of the previous National Party Congress, the experience in all-level congresses for the term 2020-25, and taking into consideration the current context.

The voting regulations in the 13th tenure National Party Congress, comprising 24 items arranged into five chapters, have a number of new features.

First, the regulations detailed the responsibility of those proposing candidates to be elected to the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the position of Party General Secretary, the Secretariat, the Central Inspection Commission and the chair of this commission.

Secondly, vote counting machines supplied by the Central Military Commission will be used.

Thirdly, the writing-in of the delegates’ selection will be conducted at the assembly hall and at the meeting room of delegation, in contrast to the previous congress where delegates could complete the votes at home.

The voting regulations will be applicable at the 13th National Party Congress and the first plenum of the 13th tenure Party Central Committee.

The working regulations of the 13th tenure National Party Congress, comprising 16 items that are arranged into six chapters, have a few basic new points, including a more detailed provision on the example-setting responsibility of delegates participating in the congress, more details on the responsibility of the heads of delegations, and the responsibility of the committee verifying the eligibility of the delegates, as well as protocols on COVID-19 prevention and control. — VNS