HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese President To Lam was appointed acting chairman of the Communist Party on Thursday due to the ill health of party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, the party said in a statement.
Nguyen Phu Trong, who was elected for a third term as secretary-general in 2021, has dominated Vietnamese politics since becoming party leader in 2011. He is an ideologue who sees corruption as the biggest threat to the party.
As Vietnam’s top security official, Lam Trong’s extensive anti-corruption campaign until May, when he became president after his predecessor, who had resigned after being caught by the campaign, stepped down.
Lam is widely seen as the leading candidate to replace Trong when his term ends in 2026. He served for more than four decades at the Ministry of Public Security before becoming minister in 2016 and was a key figure in implementing anti-corruption measures.
The party’s powerful Politburo has now asked Lam to “lead the work of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat,” a statement from the party’s central office said.
The statement also confirmed Trong’s ill health, which had been rumored for some time, but no further details were given.
