Vietnam opens pivotal Communist Party meeting to pick top leaders

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party on Monday opened its National Congress, a closely watched political gathering that will determine the country’s top leadership for the next five years and set its policy direction.

The 14th National Congress, which runs through Sunday, is the country’s most important political event. It is held every five years.

In the single-party communist state, voting rights are restricted to senior party members, with nearly 1,600 delegates from across the country convening in Hanoi for a series of closed-door meetings at the National Convention Centre.

Delegates will elect a 200-member Central Committee, which oversees major state institutions and in turn selects the Politburo — the party’s most powerful decision-making body — before choosing the country’s top leaders for 2026 to 2030.

Unlike other communist systems such as North Korea, where Kim Jong Un wields near-absolute authority, or China, where Xi Jinping has consolidated power, Vietnam formally adheres to a model of collective leadership.

The country is officially governed by five “pillars”: the general secretary, president, prime minister, chair of the National Assembly and, since 2025, the standing member of the Communist Party’s Secretariat.

Ahead of the congress, speculation has grown that current party chief To Lam could seek to merge the roles of general secretary and president, potentially concentrating power in a move likened by analysts to Xi’s leadership model. The announcement of the new leadership is expected on Sunday.

Security around the National Convention Centre has been tightened, with a heavy police and military presence, road closures and mobile phone signal disruptions in the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, criticism of Vietnam’s human rights record has intensified.

The process for selecting the country’s future leadership is undemocratic and opaque, Human Rights Watch said ahead of the congress, noting that citizens who are not party members are barred from publicly discussing candidates for the highest offices.

In the run-up to the event, authorities arrested several critics, including well-known blogger and activist Hoang Thi Hong Thai.

“It’s that time again for escalating arrests and jailing prominent critics ahead of Vietnam’s Communist Party Congress,” said Patricia Gossman, senior associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Not only does the government block citizens from choosing their own leaders, but the authorities gag those they think might complain about the process.”