Vietnam lawmakers on Monday elected a military general, Luong Cuong as the country’s new president, becoming the fourth official to fill the largely ceremonial role in 18 months.
The role of the general secretary is the most powerful position in Vietnam while the presidency is mostly ceremonial and involves meeting foreign dignitaries.
The sixty-seven years old Cuong was elected by the National Assembly to replace To Lam, who remained president even after he was formally appointed as the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party in August.
Cuong in a speech, vowed to conduct foreign policies that sought independence and peace and to promote Vietnam “as a friend, a trusted partner, an active and responsible member of the international community.”
The president who has served in the Vietnamese army for over four decades, has been a Politburo member since 2021.
His appointment took place after months of uncharacteristic tumult in Vietnam’s politics and the death of former party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who dominated the country’s leadership since 2011.
Trong was an ideologue who viewed corruption as the single gravest threat to maintaining the party’s legitimacy and launched a sweeping anti-graft campaign known as the “blazing furnace.”
The campaign targeted both business and political elites, including former presidents Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vo Van Thuong and the former head of parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue.
As Vietnam’s top security official at the time, Lam had led the campaign until May.
When he became the new general secretary, he promised to maintain the anti-corruption fight.
The appointment of Cuong as the new president was a “move to stabilise the system” after the period of turbulence, said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow in the Vietnam Studies Programme at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
“Luong Cuong’s appointment represents a deliberate attempt to restore balance between Vietnam’s military and security factions, particularly ahead of the 2026 Party Congress,” he said.
“By ceding the presidency, To Lam shows his commitment to the collective leadership principle, while still retaining the decisive power in the system,” he said.
Vietnam’s leaders are next due to convene a Communist Party Congress in early 2026.
Critics said that Cuong’s appointment would expand repression in Vietnam.
Ben Swanton of ‘The 88 Project’, a group that advocates for freedom of expression in Vietnam, said that Cuong would be a “reliable deputy” to Lam.
“The installation of Luong Cuong as president is yet another example of the expansion of Vietnam’s police state,” he said.
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