On February 15, 2026, the National Election Council officially announced a list of 864 candidates for the 500 seats of the 16th National Assembly. Notably, the full slate includes all 19 members of the 14th Politburo.
Accordingly, the election will take place on March 15, in preparation for the first session in April, during which key positions in the state leadership apparatus will be approved.
According to observers, placing the entire Politburo on the list of National Assembly candidates is not merely to satisfy the requirement that “state leaders must be members of the National Assembly,” but also serves as evidence of tightened, absolute control in the new era.
For a long time, Vietnam’s National Assembly has been accused of functioning only as an “extended arm” that simply “rubber-stamps” the resolutions and directives of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Therefore, the overwhelming presence of all members of the 14th Politburo on the candidate list further reinforces the assessment that the National Assembly is no longer a body representing voters’ voices and providing policy scrutiny, but rather an instrument fully subordinate to the Communist Party.
Experts say this policy is increasingly eliminating democratic space and undermining the objectivity of the legislative body, turning mechanisms of power oversight into a “farce.”
When those who hold life-and-death power within the Party are also the very people who directly pass laws and approve themselves into important positions within the government apparatus, it further shows that in Mr. Tô Lâm’s “new era,” the legislature remains essentially unchanged—featuring a closed power structure and an even more imposing, top-down character.
A major question being raised in public opinion is this: In a system where personnel outcomes have been decided in advance of election day, does the voter’s ballot truly carry representative value for the people, or is it merely a procedure to maintain the monopoly of a one-party authoritarian state?
Hong Linh – Thoibao.de
