History and Government

History

For many years, Vietnam formed part of the French colony of Indochina, along with Cambodia and Laos. With Vichy French agreement, in 1941, the Japanese occupied Vietnam during their World War II sweep through South-East Asia. The resistance to the Japanese was led by the Indochinese Communist Party, formed by Ho Chi Minh in 1930, and its armed wing, the Viet Minh. Following the Japanese defeat in 1945, the Communists proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1946, France sent a large expeditionary force to re-establish their control. After eight years of fierce fighting, the struggle ended in the defeat of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu (1954).

The Geneva Agreement of the same year provided for the temporary partition of North and South to be re-unified in 1956, following general elections. The Western powers, well aware that the Communists would comfortably win any legitimate poll, maneuvered to prevent it from taking place, while a Western-backed government under Ngo Dinh Diem was installed in the south and bolstered as far as possible. The Communists began an insurgency in the south to overthrow what they perceived as a puppet regime. The Americans, who had taken over from the French as the lead Western power in Vietnam, responded by sending increasing numbers of military ‘advisers’. By 1962, their numbers had reached 12,000 and the stage was set for a full-scale war between the southern Communist guerrillas (known as the Viet Cong), the North Vietnam Army and their backers in China and the Soviet Union on one side, and, on the other side, the Americans and the ARVN (the South Vietnamese army). In 1973, with their political will to continue the war at an end, the Americans withdrew. Vietnam was reunified three years later, with the victory of the Communist forces and the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Government

The present constitution, promulgated in 1992, asserts the political supremacy of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The 496-member National Assembly is responsible for legislation. The Assembly is elected every five years from candidates proposed by the CPV. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. The Assembly elects a president, who acts as head of state and also appoints a prime minister from among the members of the Assembly. The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers, the members of which hold executive power.

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