The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Thủ tướng Chính phủ nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), known as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch Hội đồng Bộ trưởng) from 1981 to 1992, is the highest office within the Central Government. The prime minister is simultaneously the Secretary of the Government Caucus Commission, a Party organ on government affairs, and Deputy Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly.[1] Throughout its history, the office has been responsible, at least in theory but not always in practice, for handling Vietnam's internal policies. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all the prime ministers of the Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office. The current prime minister is Phạm Minh Chính, since 5 April 2021. He is sixth-ranked in the Political Bureau (Politburo).[2][note 1]
The Office of the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to Hồ Chí Minh, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic. The office has no official connection, or lineage, to the heads of government of the former South Vietnam (with the exception of Huỳnh Tấn Phát, a communist and the last head of government of South Vietnam). Officially there have been 8 prime ministers of Vietnam,[3] but there have been 29 prime ministers of Vietnam if the prime ministers of the Empire of Vietnam and South Vietnam are counted.[4]
The Prime Minister is elected by the proposal of the President of Vietnam to the National Assembly and is responsible to the National Assembly, which elects all ministers to government. Activity reports by the Prime Minister must be given to the National Assembly, while the Standing Committee of the National Assembly supervises the activities of the Central Government and the Prime Minister. Finally, the deputies of the National Assembly have the right to question the Prime Minister and other members of government.[5]
Legends
| Colour key (for political parties) |
|---|
Cochinchinese Democratic Party Constitutional Party Forces for National Reconciliation National Liberation Front (Việt Cộng) |
Empire of Vietnam (1945)
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 | Trần Trọng Kim (1883–1953) | 17 April 1945 | 23 August 1945 | 128 days | National Socialist Party of Daiviet | |
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–76)
- Status
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
Chairman of Provisional Revolutionary Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–1946) President of Provisional Coalition Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1946)President of United Resistance Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1946) Chairman of United Nationalist Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1946–1955) | ||||||
| 1 |  | Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969)[6] | 17 August 1945 | 20 September 1955 | 10 years, 34 days | Communist Party of Indochina (until 1951) Worker's Party of Vietnam (from 1951) |
| — |  | Huỳnh Thúc Kháng (1876–1947)[7] | 31 May 1946 | 21 September 1946 | 113 days | Independent |
| Prime Minister of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 2 |  | Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000) | 20 September 1955 | 2 July 1976 | 20 years, 286 days | Worker's Party of Vietnam |
State of Vietnam and Republic of Vietnam (1949–1975)
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
 State of Vietnam (1949–1955) | ||||||
| 1 |  | Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (Bảo Đại) | 14 June 1949 | 21 January 1950 | 191 days | Independent |
| 2 | – | Nguyễn Phan Long (1889–1960) | 21 January 1950 | 27 April 1950 | 96 days | Constitution Party |
| 3 | – | Trần Văn Hữu (1896–1984) | 6 May 1950 | 3 June 1952 | 2 years, 28 days | Independent |
| 4 |  | Nguyễn Văn Tâm (1893–1990) | 23 June 1952 | 17 December 1953 | 1 year, 167 days | Nationalist Party |
| 5 |  | Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc (1914–1990) | 11 January 1954 | 16 June 1954 | 156 days | Independent |
| 6 |  | Ngô Đình Diệm (1901–1963) | 16 June 1954 | 26 October 1955 | 1 year, 132 days | Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party |
| Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975) | ||||||
| 1 |  | Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (1908–1976) | 4 November 1963 | 28 February 1964 | 85 days | Independent |
| (2) |  | Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013) | 28 February 1964 | 27 August 1964 | 203 days | Military |
— | – | Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003) | 29 August 1964 | 3 September 1964 | 5 days | Independent |
| (2) | | Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013) Acting | 3 September 1964 | 4 November 1964 | 62 days | Military |
| 3 |  | Trần Văn Hương (1902–1982) | 4 November 1964 | 27 January 1965 | 84 days | Independent |
— | Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003) Acting | 27 January 1965 | 15 February 1965 | 19 days | Independent | |
| 4 |  | Phan Huy Quát (1908–1979) | 16 February 1965 | 5 June 1965 | 109 days | Nationalist Party |
| 5 |  | Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930–2011) | 14 June 1965 | 1 September 1967 | 2 years, 74 days | Military |
| 6 | .jpg) | Nguyễn Văn Lộc (1922–1992) | 1 November 1967 | 17 May 1968 | 259 days | Military |
| (3) | | Trần Văn Hương | 28 May 1968 | 22 August 1969 | 1 year, 96 days | National Social Democratic Front |
| 7 |  | Trần Thiện Khiêm (1925–2021) | 22 August 1969 | 5 April 1975 | 5 years, 215 days | National Social Democratic Front |
| 8 | .jpg) | Nguyễn Bá Cẩn (1930–2009) | 5 April 1975 | 25 April 1975 | 19 days | Vietnam Workers and Farmers Party |
| 9 |  | Vũ Văn Mẫu (1914–1998) | 28 April 1975 | 30 April 1975 | 2 days | Force for National Reconciliation |
Vietnam (1976–present)
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)
- Status
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 |  | Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000) | 2 July 1976 | 18 December 1980 | 4 years, 167 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| Chairman of the Council of Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 1 | | Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000) | 18 December 1980 | 18 June 1987 | 6 years, 182 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 2 |  | Police senior colonel Phạm Hùng (1912–1988) | 18 June 1987 | 10 March 1988† | 273 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 3 |  | Đỗ Mười (1917–2018) | 22 June 1988 | 9 August 1991 | 3 years, 48 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| — |  | Võ Văn Kiệt (1922–2008) | 10 March 1988 | 22 June 1988 | 104 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 4 | 9 August 1991 | 22 September 1992 | 1 year, 44 days | |||
| Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | ||||||
| 4 | | Võ Văn Kiệt (1922–2008) | 22 September 1992 | 25 September 1997 | 5 years, 3 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 5 |  | Phan Văn Khải (1933–2018) | 25 September 1997 | 27 June 2006 resigned | 8 years, 275 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 6 | .jpg) | Army Major Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 1949) | 27 June 2006 | 6 April 2016 | 9 years, 284 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 7 |  | Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (born 1954) | 7 April 2016 | 5 April 2021 | 4 years, 363 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
| 8 |  | Police lieutenant general Phạm Minh Chính (born 1958) | 5 April 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 22 days | Communist Party of Vietnam |
See also
Notes
- 1.^ The Politburo of the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the CPV and the Central Government. The membership composition, and the order of rank of the individual Politburo members is decided in an election within the newly formed Central Committee in the aftermath of a Party Congress.[8] The Central Committee can overrule the Politburo, but that does not happen often.[9]
- 2.^ These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting head of government. The first column shows how many heads of government there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many heads of government there was in that state.
- 3.^ The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo.[8] According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he was standing for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.[10] The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.[8]
- 4.^ Phạm Văn Đồng became 4th-ranked member in the Politburo hierarchy when Hồ Chí Minh, the 1st ranked, died in 1969.[11]
- 5.^ Phạm Văn Đồng was ranked 2nd in the Politburo hierarchy when Lê Duẩn, the General Secretary of the Central Committee, died on 10 July 1986.
- 6.^ Died in office.
References
General
The prime ministers, and when they took and left office, was taken from these sources:
- "Trần Trọng Kim" (PDF) (in Vietnamese). giaocam.saigonline.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
- "Cac Thu Tuong Chinh Phu Tien Nhiem" [Predecessors of the current Prime Minister] (in Vietnamese). Government of Vietnam. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
Specific
Bibliography
- Koh, David (July–August 2008). "Leadership Changes at the 10th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party". Asian Survey. 48 (4). University of California Press: 650–672. doi:10.1525/as.2008.48.4.650. JSTOR 3738744.
- Van, Canh Nguyen; Cooper, Earle (1983). Vietnam under Communism, 1975–1982. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817978518.
- Woods, L. Shelton (2002). Vietnam: a Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576074169.