With the death Friday of Vietnam’s long-serving Communist Party general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s top leadership role has been left at least temporarily to President To Lam, who is best known for implementing a sweeping anticorruption drive.
Mr. Lam, 67, was named Thursday to take over the general secretary’s duties at the Politburo, the Party Central Committee and the Secretariat for an unspecified period.
He will also continue as president, a largely ceremonial post for which he was chosen just two months ago.
Whether he will retain the duties of general secretary on a more permanent basis depends on the Politburo, which is expected to decide whether to confirm his new role.
“This has probably set the stage for To Lam to become the next general secretary,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a research organization in Singapore.
Persons:
Nguyen Phu Trong, Lam, ”, Nguyen Khac Giang, won’t
Organizations:
Communist Party, Party Central Committee, Secretariat, Yusof, Institute
Locations:
Singapore