Nguyen Phu Trong, the powerful leader of Vietnam’s Communist Party, has died at the age of 80 from health problems including strokes, the government said.
Trong died Friday at the 108th Central Military Hospital in Hanoi “due to old age and serious illness,” the statement said.
Trong, leader of Vietnam’s one-party system, has been at the helm of the Communist Party since 2011. Rumors of his deteriorating health have been circulating for days, and he has rarely been seen in public this year after suffering a health crisis in January.
His last public appearance was on June 20, when he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Vietnam.
His reign as secretary-general was the longest since Le Duan took power after the death of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in 1969, making him one of the most powerful politicians in Vietnam in decades.
During his second and third terms, Trong presided over a “fiery furnace” of anti-corruption efforts, sentencing scores of high-ranking officials to long prison terms, and dismissing former presidents Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vo Van Thuong, as well as National Assembly Speaker Vuong Dinh Hue.
Trong first joined the Communist Party in 1968, before working as a journalist for the Communist Review. After a long career within the party apparatus, he began a five-year term as chairman of the National Assembly in 2006.
Vietnam is officially led by four ‘pillars’: the Secretary-General, the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly.
In the early 1980s, Trong completed a doctorate in party building at the Soviet Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow. As a Leninist ideologist, Trong earned a reputation as a modest and respectful figure and remains popular throughout Vietnam.
On Thursday, the party announced that Trong should focus on medical care and that President To Lam will take over his party duties.
Trong has suffered multiple strokes since 2019.
