Parliamentary elections were held in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

on 22 May 2011. Since Vietnam is a single-party state, the ruling

Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the col ...

was guaranteed to win a majority.

Campaign

According to the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

, there were 827 candidates. 31.4% were women, 14.3% were not members of the Communist Party, 16.1% were members of ethnic minorities and 22.1% were candidates running for reelection. Regardless of party standing, all candidates are evaluated by the Fatherland Front. Originally, 82 people were self-nominated, but of those only 15 were approved by party officials in order to run in the election. However, Vietnam saw an increase of self-nominated candidates (82) in 2011 compared to 30 in 2007. Some pro-democracy and human rights activists were a part of the self-nominated group, who did not receive the required approval. These included lawyers Le Quoc Quan, a former fellow for the National Endowment for Democracy and Cu Huy Ha Vu and Le Cong Dinh, both sentenced to jail for security and propaganda risks against the state. The 14 politburo seats were also up for election, though these elections were held in small electoral districts chosen by the party leaders. Thus, not all Vietnamese voters had a say in the politburo election decision.

Results

During the 2011 election, Vietnam had an estimated 62,200,000 registered voters and of those registered 61,900,000 ballots were reportedly cast. Of the 500 members elected, 333 were first-time members and four were self-nominated. Almost all of them had at least a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

; 15.6% were from ethnic minorities, 24.4% were women, and 8.4% were not members of the Communist Party. Non-party members, who managed to gain a seat in the National Assembly, include brother and sister duo Dang Thanh Tam and Dang Thi Hoang Yen from Saigon Investment Group.

Aftermath

Following the elections, on 25 July the new National Assembly elected

Trương Tấn Sang Trương Tấn Sang (; born 21 January 1949) is a Vietnamese politician, who served as the eighth President of Vietnam from 2011 to 2016. He was one of Vietnam's top leaders, alongside prime minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and Party general secr ...

as the new president, with 483 of the 496 National Assembly members voting for him.Truong Tan Sang elected Vietnamese state president
Xinhua, 25 July 2011

References

{{Vietnamese elections Elections in Vietnam

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results