Five pillars (Vietnam)
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The five pillars (Vietnamese: bộ ngũ, or ngũ trụ), also known by its previous compositions as four pillars (tứ trụ), are the five most important party-state leaders in the Communist Party of Vietnam and the government of Vietnam: the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President of Vietnam, Prime Minister of Vietnam, Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, and the Permanent Member of the Secretariat.[1][2] Together, they are officially designated as the "Key Leaders of the Party and the State" (Vietnamese: Lãnh đạo chủ chốt của Đảng và Nhà nước) and can be considered as the de facto highest state leaders.[3] Similar to China, there does not exist an official order of precedence for political leaders and rather they are inferred in a de facto fashion. However, since the chairmanship of the Communist Party was abolished, the General Secretary has been the highest ranking official in Vietnam. This division of power is formed to prevent dictatorial rule and preserve consensus-based leadership, which is officially called by the Vietnamese Communist Party as "democratic centralism".[4] In 2025, the seat of Permanent Member of the Secretariat of CPV was designated as the fifth "key leader", virtually becoming the fifth pillar of the Vietnamese politics.[5]
Unlike other communist states, the General Secretary of the party (or its predecessor) and the President of the state are largely occupied not by the same person, demonstrating the collective leadership in Vietnam. The only exceptions are: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–69), Trường Chinh (briefly in 1986), Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–21), and Tô Lâm (briefly in 2024), and except Hồ Chí Minh, all of those exceptions were practically elected to fulfill their successors' uncompleted terms of party general secretaryship or state presidency. Thus, the Party General Secretaries rarely hold offices that are nominally within the Vietnamese state apparatus and government except their parliament memberships, however is still managed to be the practical highest leader in the politics of Vietnam and is ideologically the highest commander of the People's Army of Vietnam, due to the ex officio occupation of the Secretaryship of the Party Central Military Commission.
See also
References
- ^ Hai Hong Nguyen (2020-01-09). "Vietnam prepares for 'four pillars' elections". Asia Times. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ "Ai sẽ vào 'tứ trụ' ở Đại hội XIII và bước tiếp của 'Đốt lò'". BBC Tiếng Việt. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ "Kết luận số 35-KL/TW date 05/5/2022 của Bộ Chính trị về danh mục chức danh, chức vụ lãnh đạo và tương đương của hệ thống chính trị từ Trung ương đến cơ sở | Hệ thống văn bản". tulieuvankien.dangcongsan.vn. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ^ David Hutt (2020-09-14). "Three-Horse Race for Vietnam's Next Communist Party Chief". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
In the early 1990s, a "four pillar" system was accepted so that the top four political offices – Party General Secretary, State President, Prime Minister and National Assembly chairperson – were occupied by different people. The idea was to prevent dictatorial rule and preserve consensus-based leadership – what the Party calls "democratic centralism."
- ^ Quang Minh. "Top five leaders in Viet Nam's political system". Government News. Government of Vietnam.
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