General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam

Head of the Communist Party of Vietnam and top leader of Vietnam

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), known as First Secretary (Vietnamese: Bí thư Thứ nhất) from 1951 to 1976, is the highest office within the Communist Party of Vietnam.

General Secretary of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Incumbent
Nguyễn Phú Trọng

since 19 January 2011
StyleComrade (Đồng chí)
(Formal)
TypeParty leader
Status1st in Politburo and Secretariat
Member ofCentral Committee
Political Bureau
Central Military Commission
Secretariat
AppointerCentral Committee
Term lengthFive years
renewable once
PrecursorFirst Secretary
Inaugural holderTrần Phú
Formation27 October 1930

Officeholders

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[note 1]
PortraitName
(Birth–Death)
Took officeLeft officeRank
[note 2]
Central Committee
1 Trần Phú
(1904–1931)
27 October 19306 September 19311Provisional Central Committee
(1930–35)
2 Lê Hồng Phong
(1902–1942)
27 October 193126 July 193611st Central Committee (1935–51)
3 Hà Huy Tập
(1906–1941)
26 July 193630 March 19381
4 Nguyễn Văn Cừ
(1912–1941)
30 March 19389 November 19401
5 Trường Chinh
(1907–1988)
9 November 19405 October 19561
[note 3]
1st Central Committee (1935–51)
22nd Central Committee (1951–60)
6 Hồ Chí Minh
(1890–1969)
5 October 195610 September 196012nd Central Committee (1951–60)
3rd Central Committee (1960–76)
7Lê Duẩn
(1907–1986)
10 September 196010 July 19862
[note 4]
14th Central Committee (1976–82)
5th Central Committee (1982–86)
5 Trường Chinh
(1907–1988)
14 July 198618 December 198615th Central Committee (1982–86)
8Nguyễn Văn Linh
(1915–1998)
18 December 198628 June 199116th Central Committee (1986–91)
9 Đỗ Mười
(1917–2018)
28 June 199126 December 199717th Central Committee (1991–96)
8th Central Committee (1996–2001)
10 Lê Khả Phiêu
(1931–2020)[note 5]
26 December 199722 April 20011
11 Nông Đức Mạnh
(1940–)[note 6]
22 April 200119 January 201119th Central Committee (2001–06)
10th Central Committee (2006–11)
12 Nguyễn Phú Trọng
(1944–)
19 January 2011Incumbent111th Central Committee (2011–16)
12th Central Committee (2016–21)

Notes

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  1. These numbers are not official.
  2. The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo.[1] According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes given 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 at the bottom because he received the lowest number of approval votes. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.[2] Before the 10th Party Congress Politburo rankings functioned as the official order of precedence, but it doesn't any longer (however, there are some who disagree with this view).[1]
  3. He was ranked No. 1 until the 1945 August Revolution led by Hồ Chí Minh.
  4. He was ranked second until the death of Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV chairman, on 2 September 1969.[3]
  5. He is confirmed to have passed away recently on 7 August 2020
  6. He is currently the only living former general secretary

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Van & Cooper 1983, p. 69.
  2. Koh 2008, p. 666.
  3. Brocheux 2007, p. 174.