Parliamentary elections were held in Vietnam on 22 May 2011.[1] Since Vietnam is a single-party state, the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam was guaranteed to win a majority.[2]
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 827 candidates. 31.4% were women, 14.3% were not members of the Communist Party, 16.1% were members of ethnic minorities and 22.1% were candidates running for reelection.[3] Regardless of party standing, all candidates are evaluated by the Fatherland Front.[4]
Originally, 82 people were self-nominated, but of those only 15 were approved by party officials in order to run in the election.[5] However, Vietnam saw an increase of self-nominated candidates (82) in 2011 compared to 30 in 2007.[6] Some pro-democracy and human rights activists were a part of the self-nominated group, who did not receive the required approval. These included lawyers Le Quoc Quan, a former fellow for the National Endowment for Democracy and Cu Huy Ha Vu and Le Cong Dinh, both sentenced to jail for security and propaganda risks against the state.[7]
The 14 politburo seats were also up for election, though these elections were held in small electoral districts chosen by the party leaders. Thus, not all Vietnamese voters had a say in the politburo election decision.[8]
During the 2011 election, Vietnam had an estimated 62,200,000 registered voters and of those registered 61,900,000 ballots were reportedly cast.[9] Of the 500 members elected, 333 were first-time members and four were self-nominated. Almost all of them had at least a bachelor's degree; 15.6% were from ethnic minorities, 24.4% were women, and 8.4% were not members of the Communist Party.[10] Non-party members, who managed to gain a seat in the National Assembly, include brother and sister duo Dang Thanh Tam and Dang Thi Hoang Yen from Saigon Investment Group.[11]
Following the elections, on 25 July the new National Assembly elected Trương Tấn Sang as the new president, with 483 of the 496 National Assembly members voting for him.[12]
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