Vietnam announced yesterday that three independent candidates, including a former soldier of the US-backed South Vietnam Army, had been elected to the communist country's National Assembly. Election officials said Dr Tran Thanh Trai was elected with 83.91 per cent of votes in the Binh Thanh and Phu Nhuan area of Ho Chi Minh City.
The figure represents the most votes for any of the 25 candidates in the former Saigon, other than Deputy Prime Minister Mr Phan Van Khai.
It is also the first known time that a soldier from the former South Vietnam army has been elected, and the first time that a self-nominated candidate won a place in a legislature traditionally seen as the domain of loyal party members and other handpicked deputies.
The full results of Vietnam's election show that all but 108 people in the 450-seat legislature have been elected for the first time. Nearly 120 are women, 78 are from ethnic minority groups and 384 are members of the ruling communist party.
Among them are a prominent and outspoken lawyer, Mr Ngo Ba Thanh, and Bishop Dr Vuong Dinh Ai (86), in central Nghe An province.
All politburo candidates who stood for election succeeded, as expected, including National Assembly Chairman Mr Nong Duc Manh, who received 93.29 per cent of his constituents' votes.
The new assembly will have few powers to influence decisions made at higher levels of the political establishment. It will meet for the first time on September 18th, but will not pass any laws until its second session next year.
One of its first tasks will be to ratify the appointment of a new President and Prime Minister. The current incumbents, Mr Le Duc Anh (76) and Mr Vo Van Kiet (74), are stepping down.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's senior ideologue, Mr Nguyen Van Linh, considered the father of the communist country's economic reforms, has criticised the US and called for domestic industry to be protected from US goods.
A hard-hitting commentary, published in official media in the south over the weekend, recalled the suffering inflicted on Vietnam by the US during the Vietnam War. The commentary said Washington was still punishing Hanoi 22 years after that conflict ended.
"They promised to pay us $3 billion . . . But more than 20 years have passed and the US has not given a single penny," he said.
"Moreover, they have presented Vietnam with demands such as paying back both the principle and interest on hundreds of millions of dollars the Saigon regime borrowed from them to fight our people."
Mr Linh (82) added that US investors had made little effort to bring either capital or technology to Vietnam, and were destroying local industry by undercutting prices and using expensive advertising campaigns. - (Reuter)