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DE RUEHHI #0142/01 0540253
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230253Z FEB 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9162
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5588

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000142 
 
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TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VM
 
SUBJECT: Vietnam Shelves Local Elections for Other Local Government 
 
Reforms 
 
HANOI 00000142  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Although a long-stated goal of the Communist 
Party of Vietnam is to move toward direct election of local 
officials, the National Assembly and the Politburo have decided to 
shelve this goal indefinitely in favor of other changes designed to 
streamline local government.  These new efforts would strengthen 
local executive bodies and eliminate the legislative branch of local 
government, People's Councils, while also combining the position of 
local Communist Party Chairman with that of People's Committee 
Chairman.  This restructuring is currently being enacted as a pilot 
program in selected localities.  Significant hurdles remain before 
the program could be put into place nationwide.  If implemented 
fully, the moves would eliminate Vietnam's only local-level direct 
elections, further centralize and strengthen the power of People's 
Committee Chairmen and the Communist Party at all levels and give 
provincial officials greater authority over localities under their 
purview, while moving away from direct democracy at the local 
level. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) COMMENT: These pilot programs may be designed to make 
local administration more efficient, but we hesitate to call them 
reform.  While hardly free or fair, the election of People's 
Councils did inject at least some degree of popular participation 
and accountability into an otherwise opaque process and their 
elimination is a step backward.  The decision by the Politburo and 
the National Assembly to put off direct elections of local 
executives is similarly disappointing.  Absent any significant local 
check on their authority, combining the roles of Party and People's 
Committee Chairman could actually make Vietnam's endemic corruption 
worse at the local level.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
Role of People's Councils and People's Committees 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) People's Committees and People's Councils are mandated 
under the 1992 Constitution in all provinces and provincial-level 
cities, as well as in a host of lower-level jurisdictions, including 
districts, cities, towns, communes, and wards.  People's Councils 
are the "legislative body," while People's Committees serve an 
executive function.  People's Council members are currently 
"elected" to serve five-year terms and are responsible for resolving 
administrative disputes, approving budgets, and debating economic 
development plans.  The People's Councils choose the Chairman of the 
People's Committee.  The Chairmen of the People's Committee and the 
People's Council together serve as Vice Chairmen of the Communist 
Party for their jurisdiction. 
 
Eliminating People's Councils 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In an effort to streamline local government, the National 
Assembly last fall approved a pilot project that would abolish 
People's Councils at the district level.  Originally, this 
legislation was scheduled to move forward jointly with legislation 
that would also allow for the direct election of People's Committee 
Chairman at the village or commune level.  In the end, however, the 
National Assembly decided to move forward with scrapping local 
People's Councils while deferring consideration of direct local 
elections.  On February 3, the Assembly's Standing Committee named 
the first ten cities and provinces that will abolish local People's 
Councils.  The first stage of the program, which begins in April, 
includes 99 districts and wards and 483 communes in Hai Phong, Da 
Nang and Ho Chi Minh cities as well as provinces in northern Lao 
Cai, Vinh Phuc and Nam Dinh; the central Quang Tri and Phu Yen 
provinces; and southern Kien Giang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Officials from the Local Government Department of the 
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told Poloff that these provinces and 
cities had all volunteered to participate in the project; in fact, 
many more localities volunteered than had been expected.  The 
officials explained that there were two main reasons why provincial 
Party leadership would find the restructuring attractive: 1) 
eliminating the People's Councils would free up funds, and 2) 
provincial officials would enjoy more direct influence at the local 
level.  As a result, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed 
to expand the program below the district level to a large number of 
communes as well.  MHA Officials noted that if the program proves as 
useful as hoped, the end goal would be to eliminate People's 
Councils entirely. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) MHA Officials admitted that the pilot project would have 
to be implemented quickly in order to allow the government to 
evaluate its effectiveness and determine whether the program should 
be implemented nationwide as the next round of People's Councils 
"elections" are scheduled to take place in 2011.  Expanding the 
pilot program nationwide would also require a Constitutional 
amendment, they explained, because the Constitution mandates the 
establishment of People's Councils and stipulates that that the 
Councils are responsible for choosing local People's Committee 
 
HANOI 00000142  002 OF 002 
 
 
Chairmen.  Similarly, local officials in Lang Son province and 
Danang city informed the DCM that even if the GVN went forward with 
direct elections of commune level People's Committee Chairmen it 
would also require a change to the constitution due to the fact that 
the constitution stipulates that People's Councils shall choose 
People's Committee Chairmen. 
 
Double-Hatting; Direct Elections on Hold Indefinitely 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The second, equally significant, change would be to 
combine the roles of local People's Committee Chairman and Communist 
Party Chairman.  As Nguyen Chi Dzung, senior lecturer at the 
National Assembly's Training Center, explained to Poloff, the 
restructuring had already been approved by the Politburo.  Asked 
whether this would mean that local Party Chairmen would eventually 
be elected -- since the Party had earlier stated its intent to allow 
direct elections of People's Committee Chairman at the village or 
commune level -- MHA officials acknowledged that plans for direct 
elections had been put on hold indefinitely. 
 
Who Wins: Local (Unaccountable) Bosses 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The big winners are, naturally, the local People's 
Committee Chairmen who have long sought more power to implement 
plans for their localities but who often lack authority to make 
simple budgetary and personnel decisions.  Not only will they no 
longer have a People's Council to contend with, as Party Chair, they 
will be the unambiguous voice of the CPV.  In a meeting with Emboffs 
on February 4, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Dinh 
not surprisingly waxed enthusiastic about the pilot program, saying 
that it was a "great honor" to have been chosen.  The other likely 
winners, presumably, are provincial-level Party bosses, who now will 
have to contend with fewer lower-level players.  Administration 
will, at least in theory, be more directly hierarchical, as -- 
crucially -- will be promotions.   But while more efficient on 
paper, the new structure may not be any better at controlling 
Vietnam's endemic local-level corruption.  Under the new system, 
accountability will be focused upward, toward one's superiors in the 
Party, not outward toward one's constituency. 
 
Michalak