12th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam

The 12th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam Khoá XII) is the current Politburo of the ruling Communist Party in Vietnam. It was selected by the Central Committee of the Party at the 12th National Congress of the CPV on January 27, 2016, and is expected to serve until the 13th National Congress, tentatively scheduled for early 2021. The 19-member committee comprises 12 newcomers and seven returning members.^[1] Within Vietnam's one-party political system, the Politburo de facto occupies the apex of the political system, with important government positions (president, prime minister, chair of the National Assembly) and leadership of the military and security forces almost always held by its members.

Since the incumbent president, prime minister, and chair of the National Assembly (Trương Tấn Sang, Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, and Nguyễn Sinh Hùng, all members of the 11th Politburo) were not selected to partake in the 12th Politburo, they were expected to retire when the National Assembly confirmed their successors in late 2016. The incumbent general secretary of the CPV, Nguyễn Phú Trọng, was re-elected to his post.

At the 11th session of the 13th National Assembly, a number of members of the new Politburo were confirmed as new leaders of state institutions.

Members[]

Name	Member Period	Duration	Position at Start of 12th National Congress	Current Party Position	Current State Position	Note
Nguyễn Phú Trọng	29 December 1997 - present	23 years, 360 days	General Secretary of the CPV (party position)	General Secretary Secretary of the Central Military Commission Chair of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Eradication	President (since October 2018)
Trần Đại Quang	19 January 2011 - 21 September 2018	7 years, 245 days	Minister of Public Security (state position)	Chair of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform	President* Chairman of the Council of Defence and Security	Died in September 2018. Succeeded by Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh as acting President, then by Nguyen Phu Trong.
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc	19 January 2011 - present	10 years, 339 days	Prime Minister (state position)	Secretary of the Government Party Leadership Committee	Prime Minister* Deputy Chairman of the Council of Defence and Security
Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân	11 May 2013 - present	8 years, 227 days	Deputy Chair of the National Assembly (state position)		Chair of the National Assembly*
Ngô Xuân Lịch	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of the General Political Department (state position); Secretary of the Central Committee (party position)	Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission	Minister of National Defence*
Tô Lâm	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Minister of Public Security (state position)	Secretary of the Central Public Security Party Committee	Minister of Public Security*
Nguyễn Thiện Nhân	11 May 2013 - present	8 years, 227 days	Chair of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front (state position)	Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee (from 10 May 2017)	Chair of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front	Nguyễn Thiện Nhân was assigned to take over as the party chief in Ho Chi Minh City in May 2017, after the then-Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Đinh La Thăng, was removed from his post for discipline violation.
Đinh Thế Huynh	19 January 2011 - present	10 years, 339 days	Chair of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission (party position); Secretary of the Central Committee (party position)	Executive Secretary of the Central Committee (on leave)		On official leave for medical reasons since August 2017.
Phạm Minh Chính	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Chair of the Central Organization Commission (party position)	Chair of the Central Organization Commission
Tòng Thị Phóng	19 January 2011 - present	10 years, 339 days	Deputy Chair of the National Assembly (state position)		Permanent Deputy Chair of the National Assembly
Vương Đình Huệ	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Chair of the Central Economic Commission (party position)		Deputy Prime Minister*
Trần Quốc Vượng	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Chief of Staff, Office of the Central Committee (party position)	Chair of the Central Inspection Committee Acting Executive Secretary of the Central Committee		Assigned by the Politburo to act as Executive Secretary while Đinh Thế Huynh is on medical leave.
Phạm Bình Minh	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Prime Minister and Minister and Foreign Affairs (state position)		Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Trương Thị Mai	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Chair of the National Assembly Committee on Social Issues (state position)	Chair of the Central Popular Mobilization Commission
	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court (state position); Secretary of the Central Committee (party position)		Executive Deputy Prime Minister*
Nguyễn Văn Bình	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Governor of the State Bank (state position)	Chair of the Central Economic Commission
Võ Văn Thưởng	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee (party position)	Chair of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission
Đinh La Thăng	27 January 2016 - 7 May 2017	1 year, 100 days	Minister of Transportation (state position)	Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee (until 10 May 2017) Deputy Chair of the Central Economic Commission (since May 2017)		Đinh La Thăng was removed from the Politburo by the Central Committee in May 2017 for misconduct and negligence during his tenure as the chair of the state-owned oil company, PetroVietnam. Since the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee by convention has to be a Politburo member, he was reassigned to the Central Economic Commission as the deputy chair.
Hoàng Trung Hải	27 January 2016 - present	5 years, 331 days	Deputy Prime Minister (state position)	Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee