On Sunday, millions of Vietnamese voters headed to the polls to select the 500 deputies of Vietnam’s unicameral National Assembly, in addition to members of provincial and commune-level People’s Councils.
Vietnam’s one-party system — ruled over by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) — leaves little room for surprises on election day: close to 93 per cent of candidates in Sunday’s vote belonged to the CPV. This time around, of the 864 candidates — 472 men and 392 women — only 65 were “independents.” On Monday, Vietnam’s national election council announced, somewhat improbably, that turnout hit 99.64 per cent.
The new deputies convene in early April and are expected to confirm the CPV’s preordained picks for president and prime minister. The National Assembly formally approves senior leadership positions and major government policies; rarely, members can push back (e.g. a 2018 postponement of a special economic zones bill and a 2010 rejection of a high-speed rail project).
To Lam, Vietnam's most powerful politician and a former public security minister, was confirmed as CPV general secretary at the party’s congress in January. He ascended to the role in 2024. Lam has set ambitious growth targets for the next five years — no less than 10 per cent annual growth — and seeks to position Vietnam as a major hub for high-tech manufacturing and technology industries. Lam has also halved the number of Vietnamese provinces, merging some, and fired or retired roughly 100,000 civil servants.
In 2024, Canada–Vietnam goods trade reached C$15.7 billion. According to our Investment Monitor data, between 2003–24, Vietnam received 22 per cent of all Canadian FDI to the ASEAN region. Canada and Vietnam are both CPTPP members.
