The president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam, lit. 'Chairman of the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam') is the head of state of Vietnam, elected by the Vietnam National Assembly from delegates of the National Assembly. Since Vietnam is a single-party state, the president is generally considered to hold the second highest position in the political system, formally after the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In addition, the president appoints the head of government, the Prime Minister. As head of state, the President represents Vietnam both domestically and internationally, and maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country.
The president must be a delegate of the National Assembly and is traditionally a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The Central Committee of the Communist Party nominates candidates to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly then confirms and nominates those candidates for official election by all delegates of the National Assembly.
The president appoints the vice president, prime minister, ministers, and other officials with the consent of the National Assembly. The president is furthermore the supreme commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces, chairman of the Council for Defense and Security. Moreover, member of Political Bureau, standing member of the Central Military Commission and the Central Police Party Committee. Since September 2011, the president is also the head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform. The tenure of the president is five years, and a president can only serve three terms. If the president becomes unable to discharge duties of office, the vice president assumes the office of acting president until the president resumes duty, or until the election of a new president.
The powers and prestige of the office of president have varied over the years. For instance, while the inaugural president, Hồ Chí Minh, was also the chairman of the Communist Party, making him (in that capacity) the first ranking member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, served as a symbolic figure along with General Secretary Lê Duẩn. Since Trường Chinh's ascension to the presidency, the president has been ranked 1st (he was sometimes also chairman of the party) or 2nd in the order of precedence of the Communist Party's Politburo except President Nguyễn Minh Triết ranked fourth and President Võ Chí Công ranked third. Three persons served concurrently as head of both the party and state: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–1969), Trường Chinh (1986) and Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–2021).
Võ Văn Thưởng is the current President of Vietnam after being appointed by the National Assembly on 2 March 2023. He is the youngest person to hold this position since the republic's founding in 1945.

View More On Wikipedia.org