Elections in Vietnam currently include elections to the National Assembly at the central level and the election of representatives to People's Councils at all levels at the local level..
Trang 1VIET NAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
TRAN THI HOA LE
ELECTING REPRESENTATIVES TO THE PEOPLES’S COUNCILS AT ALL LEVELS IN VIETNAM TODAY
Major: Political Sience Major code: 9 31 02 01
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN
POLITICAL SCIENCE
HANOI - 2021
Trang 2The thesis was completes at
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Supervisor: Prof,Dr Duong Xuan Ngoc
Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof, Dr Nguyen Minh Phuong Reviewer 2: Prof, Dr Nguyen Văn Tai
Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof, Dr Ho Viet Hanh
The thesis will be defended before the Thesis Judging Committee Academy
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences,
At time:
The thesis can be found at:
National Library and Library of Graduate Academy of Social Sciences,
Trang 3INTRODUCTION
1 The necesity of the thesis
Political power is the basic category that holds a central position in political science That is why politics is the science of the rules and principles of class struggle revolving around gaining, keeping, organizing, exercising and controlling political power in an organized society Today, if political power and state power are considered as the goal that political actors are aiming for, the election is the way to reach power
As one of the important institutions in political activities, election is the decision-making process of the people to select individuals with necessary and sufficient conditions to hold positions in the government Elections are seen as the mechanism through which contemporary democracies allocate positions in the legislative, executive, judicial, and local governments of the nation As the legal basis for the creation of bodies representing state power, elections have an important place
in contemporary politics
It is possible to generalize the electoral models in the contemporary world, excluding the uniqueness to include three typical models: The electoral model of the monarchy (including parliamentary monarchy, republican monarchy); electoral model
of the presidential republic and the electoral model of the mixed system Looking at the electoral system, one can understand the development as well as the level of civilization of a socio-political regime in general and the political institutions of countries in particular It is also through this that the democratic character of the political system is clearly demonstrated, because through electoral activities, the mechanisms for gaining, keeping and exercising political power are revealed most profoundly
In modern politics, free and fair elections are the way to ensure respect for the freedom and democratic rights of citizens, because the term election is always closely associated with the concept of democracy In a democracy, the power of the state is exercised only with the consent of the people The basic mechanism for translating that consensus into state power is the organization of free and fair elections
Conducted for the first time on January 6, 1946, in Vietnam, general elections and elections of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels have an important position, which is a means of expressing the will of the People's Council The will, aspirations and mastery of the people in the construction of the state in general and representative agencies - state power agencies from the central to local levels in our country in particular Election of representatives to hold positions in the elected body of the government in accordance with the constitution and law Elections
in Vietnam currently include elections to the National Assembly (at the central level) and the election of representatives to People's Councils at all levels (at the local level)
As Article 6 of the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam affirms: "The people exercise state
Trang 4power by direct democracy, by representative democracy through the National Assembly, People's Council and other State agencies."
Usually, elections are held when the elected bodies (state power bodies) expire According to the 2013 Constitution, the term of the National Assembly (NA) is five years and so is the term of the People's Councils at all levels Therefore, every five years, our country conducts elections for the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels
The People's Council in our country was established at the end of 1945 according to Decree No 63 of November 22, 1945 by the President of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (at that time Ho Chi Minh) According to this decree, People's Councils were established at the commune and provincial levels by direct election of the people with a term of only 2 years According to Article 1 of the Law on Organization of the People's Councils and People's Committees (2003), "The People's Council is the local state power organ representing the will, aspiration and the right to mastery of the people, elected by the local people, accountable to the local people and superior state agencies” [73]
At present, Vietnam is accelerating the renovation of the political system, promoting democracy, building a socialist rule of law state "of the people, by the people and for the people" to adapt to economic renovation, building a socialist state with a strong political system socialist-oriented market economy The Resolution of the 12th Party Congress emphasized that "Continuing to build and perfect the socialist rule of law State under the leadership of the Party is the central task of renewing the political system " [10] This task requires reforming and perfecting the electoral system, including the election of representatives to People's Councils at all levels in the direction of promoting decentralization and decentralization, ensuring the real power for People's Councils at all levels Because through the elections of National Assembly members and People's Council representatives, citizens' rights and the right
to mastery are expressed in accordance with the nature of the socialist rule-of-law state: All power belongs to the people Since 2001, our Party has pointed out the need
to "improve the quality of represenatives to the National Assembly and People's Councils, perfecting regulations on election, candidacy and standards of National Assembly and People's Council representatives on the basis of truly promoting democracy" In order to achieve these goals, one of the important solutions is to build
a democratic mechanism and exercise people's democratic rights through election activities in general and election of People's Council represenatives in particular The election of People's Council representatives at all levels in our country took place excitingly, attracting a large number of people but there are still many shortcomings and certain limitations
Stemming from the above theoretical and practical requirements, the study
"Electing representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam today" has
Trang 5an important meaning in assessing and properly recognizing correct theoretical basis for election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam It is to analyze the reality to point out the achievements and limitations in order to propose appropriate solutions to improve the quality of election activities in general and the election of People's Council representatives in particular Since then, promoting the rights and obligations of citizens in electing worthy delegates to represent the will and aspirations and mastery of the people in the state power agency, meeting the requirements of construction, perfecting the socialist rule of law state of the people, by the people, for the people in our country in the coming time
2 Research objectives and tasks of the dissertation
2.1 Research purpose
On the basis of clarifying a number of theoretical issues on election and election of People's Council representatives at all levels, assessing the reality of election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam, the dissertation proposes some solutions to improve the quality of election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam in the coming terms
2.2 Research tasks
To accomplish the above research objective, the dissertation has the following tasks:
1) Draft the overview of research related to the dissertation topic
2) Research to clarify some theoretical issues about People's Councils at all levels and election of People's Council representatives at all levels
3) Analyze and assess the reality of election of People's Council representatives
at all levels in Vietnam
4) Propose solutions to improve the quality of election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam in the coming terms
3 Research object and research scope of the thesis
4 Theoretical foundation and research methodology
4.1 Theoretical foundation
Trang 6The dissertation is based on Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought, the Party's viewpoint on election and election of People's Council representatives at all levels
Besides, the dissertation also selectively acquires research results on the election of People's Council representatives at all levels of published research works
The dissertation also uses the research approach of a number of electoral theories; political democracy theory; the theory of people's sovereignty; theory on building a state ruled by law, on freedom, democracy, human rights
4.2 Research methodology
On the basis of the dialectical and historical materialism of the Leninist philosophy, the dissertation uses research methods such as: analysis and summary methods; systematic analysis method, theoretical and practical combination, logical and historical method; comparative methods to solve the tasks set out in the dissertation
Marxist-5 New scientific contributions of the thesis
- The dissertation studies the election works as a basis for systematically presenting the theoretical basis of election activities, including: concepts, roles and principles Building a theoretical framework on principles, contents and process of election of People's Council representatives, influencing factors; role of election of representatives to People's Councils at all levels
- On the basis of analyzing and evaluating the process and content of election activities for People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam, especially inadequacies and limitations in this activity need to be handled and resolved in the process of improving operations election and election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels
- The dissertation proposes a system of solutions to improve the quality of election activities of People's Council representatives in Vietnam in the coming time
to meet the requirements of promoting the role of the People's Council and democratizing society
6 Theoretical and practical significance of the thesis
6.1 Theoretical significance
The research results and new contributions of the dissertation contribute to the systematization of information, opinions and theories about the electoral system in general and the election of the People's Council in Vietnam in particular, thereby contributing part of clarifying and enriching the theoretical issues about the election of People's Councils and the practice of perfecting the election mechanism of People's Councils at all levels in our country
The dissertation is a meaningful work in contributing to supplementing theoretical knowledge about the position, role and process of election of People's Council representatives to help readers see the meaning and importance of this
Trang 7activity in the process of election exercise the people's power, practice democracy and in the process of establishment and operation of the state
The research results and conclusions drawn from the dissertation can be used
by relevant agencies from the central to local levels as scientific arguments and references to serve the proposal of solutions to promote human rights the people's mastery, in studying, amending, supplementing (or building new) the Law on Election
in general and election of People's Council representatives in our country in the coming time
7 Structure of the thesis
In addition to the Introduction, Conclusion, Appendix, List of published works related to the dissertation topic and the list of references, the dissertation consists of 4 chapters and 18 sections
Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical studies on election and election of People's Council representatives
1.1.1 Theoretical studies on elections
Elections are considered an activity associated with representative democracy,
so its role is emphasized in contemporary democracies Up to now, the number of studies on elections in general is quite abundant and diverse
Some typical publications on the election of foreign scholars include
“Democracy and Deep-Rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators”; “Electoral System
Design: The New International IDEA Handbook” (2005); “Women and Elections: Guide to Promoting the Participation of Women in Elections”; “A Guide Transparency in Election Administration”; Building Confidence in US Election Report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, September; “Free and Fair Elections-New Expanded Edition”;
“Electoral Management Design: The International IDEA Handbook”; “Democracy,
Conflict and Human Security: Pursuing Peace in the 21st Century”; “Parliament and Democracy in The Twenty- First Century a Guide to Good Practice”;
The works of domestic authors are: "Electoral regimes of some countries in the world", "Vietnamese politics"; “Electoral systems in the UK, USA and France – theory and reality”; “Electoral system in our country, theoretical and practical issues”,
“Comparison of some electoral systems in the world”, “Election in the rule of law”,
“Experience discussion on election of Japan", "The role of elections in building the
Trang 8rule of law state of the people, by the people and for the people", "Electoral system (Chapter X)", Textbook of Vietnamese Constitutional Law, "Origin basic principles of our country's elections today", "The process of perfecting the law on elections in Vietnam"
The results of the researches have provided an important amount of knowledge about the election, a necessary source of material and can be used as a reference to conduct in-depth research on the key contents of the dissertation judgment
1.1.2 Theoretical studies on the election of representatives to the People's Council
The works written on the theory of election of representatives to the People's Council must be mentioned such as: "Ho Chi Minh with the National Assembly and the People's Council", "The people supervise the elected bodies of Vietnam in the period of change", "Some issues on improving the electoral system for representatives
to the People's Council in Vietnam today", Election of representatives to the 12th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels with the rule of law state building Socialist Republic, Promoting the participation of women in the election process of representatives to the National Assembly and People's Councils of Vietnam", "Q&A on the Law on Election of the National Assembly and People's Councils in 2015", “State apparatus of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” “About human rights and civil rights”, “About the current situation and legal needs on the organization of the state apparatus and the law on human rights according to Resolution 48 of the Politburo", "Participating in the elections of the National Assembly and the People's Council is a method of expressing the will, aspiration and mastery of the people in building a socialist rule of law state", etc
Research works have approached the problem from many different angles and perspectives, clarifying theoretical and practical issues on election of People's Council representatives in Vietnam The research results have provided an overview and basic
of the contents related to the election and election of People's Council representatives
at all levels, confirming the important position of this activity in political life
1.2 Research works on the reality and solutions to the election and election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam
The works focused on discussing the reality and solutions to elect
representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam include: "Electoral
law: some issues to be improved", "Contributing to the completion of the process" election of representatives to the People's Council in our country today", "Constraints
on State power", "The will of the people in the election and a few ideas contributing to ensuring the will of the people in the election process" ensuring elections in our country", "Negotiation and its impact on promoting the activeness of citizens in exercising the right to vote", "Election: who and whom to vote", "Freedom", electoral justice and its relations with elections in Vietnam", "Innovating the electoral process
Trang 9for a highly representative National Assembly", "What to do to renew the election of the National Assembly in Vietnam" current situation in our country", "The current situation and solutions to renovate the election work in our country", "Some opinions
on the amendment and supplementation of the Law on Election of National Assembly representatives and the Law on Election of National Assembly representatives" people's co-operation", "Some solutions to renew the selection of consultation work" introduce candidates to the National Assembly and People's Councils - theoretical and practical basis"; "It is necessary to develop a law on general regulations on election of representatives to the National Assembly and People's Councils", "Election
of representatives to the National Assembly and election of the People's Council at the same time - issues that need to be resolved Resolution, "Further improving the electoral system for elected representatives", "Some thoughts on reforming the electoral system to ensure the right to vote and stand for election of Vietnamese citizens in the current period", "The issue of reforming the current electoral system",
"Electoral management in the world and suggestions for Vietnam", "The 2013 Constitution and the reform of the electoral system to perfect the representative democracy representative in Vietnam today", "Theory and practice of perfecting the electoral system in our country in accordance with the new Constitution",
"Implementation of the Constitution and requirements for perfecting the law on election of delegates People's Council", "On the National Assembly and Conceptual Challenges",
On the basis of presenting basic issues about the election of representatives to People's Councils at all levels, analyze and evaluate the process and status of election activities or a certain issue with related to, affecting election activities, researches by scientists also show that it is necessary to renew, perfect and improve the quality of elections in general and elections of People's Councils in particular in our country today The solutions have been presented clearly, logically and with high reference value by the authors
1.3 Evaluate the findings in existing publication related to the topic and the contents for further research
1.3.1 Evaluation of findings in existing publication related to the dissertation topic
Firstly, it can be seen that the number of research works related to the dissertation topic is quite rich and diverse, approached from many different angles
Secondly, the multi-dimensional information from research works is both the advantages and challenge in finding research gaps
Thirdly, research works on election and election of People's Council representatives are scattered, spreaded and even contradicted, making it difficult for inheritance and reference
Trang 10Tesearch works on election and election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam are quite rich and diverse, but there are still no systematic and comprehensive monographs on the theory and status of elections People's Council representatives in the current period, especially the absence of works assessing the current situation and proposing solutions to improve the quality of election activities
of People's Council representatives at all levels It is this absence that creates a knowledge gap that needs to be filled This is also the reason for the author to choose and implement the dissertation: "Electing representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam today"
1.3.2 Issues for further research in the dissertation
On the basis of surveying and learning about literature review, the author realizes that there are still many issues that need further research to clarify:
Firstly, theoretical issues related to the election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam
Secondly, issues related to the actual situation of election activities of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam
Thirdly, there is a lack of comprehensive works on the solution system to improve the quality of the election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels in Vietnam
Research results must ensure the establishment of a sufficient basis for determining views and solutions; content and conditions for implementation of views and solutions At the same time, the dissertation also needs to propose recommendations to the concerned agencies on some issues related to the election of People's Council representatives at all levels in our country
Sub - of chapter 1
Theoretical studies on election and election of People's Council representatives
at all levels and researches on the situation and solutions for election of People's Council representatives at all levels in Vietnam are quite rich and diverse However, there is no comprehensive and in-depth research on election of People's Council representatives at all levels The gaps of the requirements set out the dissertation topic has the task of providing a comprehensive and in-depth view of the election and election of People's Council representatives at all levels with issues such as principles, content, and processes organization of this activity together with the factors involved
in the actual electoral process On that basis, to find the optimal solutions to promote the advantages and overcome the limitations of the election of People's Council representatives at all levels to serve as a basis for building and perfecting the rule of law state apparatus of Vietnam People, by the people and for the people in our country today
Trang 11Chapter 2 THEORETICAL ISSUES ABOUT ELECTION OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL
AT ALL LEVELS 2.1 About People's Councils at all levels
2.1.1 Position and legal nature of the People's Council
The position and role of the People's Council in the organization of the local government are prescribed by law in Article 113 of the 2013 Constitution:
1 The People's Council is the local state power agency, representing the will, aspirations and mastery of the people, elected by the local people, responsible to the local people and state agencies
2 People's Councils decide local issues prescribed by law; supervise the observance of the Constitution and laws in the locality and the implementation of resolutions of the People's Council [45]
The legal nature of the People's Council is reflected in two aspects:
Firstly, the representative nature of the People's Council
Secondly, the People's Council is the local state authority
The representative nature and position of the state power agency of the People's Council have a dialectical relationship with each other Representativeness is a prerequisite for the People's Council to become a local state authority And only by being the local state power agency, the People's Council that has the power to perform the character of representing the people, deciding on behalf of the people on important local issues
2.1.2 Functions of People's Council
According to the 2013 Constitution, the People's Council performs two types of functions:
First, deciding on important local issues
The People's Council shall decide on important undertakings and measures to bring into full play the potential of the locality, build and develop the locality in terms
of socio-economic development, strengthen national defense and security, and constantly improve material life as well as the spiritual life of the local people, fulfilling their obligations to the whole country
Second, the supervisory function of the People's Council
According to the Law on Organization of Local Government 2019 - marking a new development in the supervisory function of the People's Council, contributing to enhancing the position and role of the People's Council, which is: Supervising the observance of the Constitution and laws in localities and the implementation of resolutions of the People's Council
The People's Council is not only a representative agency for the locality, but in the organizational system of local government agencies, the People's Council also has
Trang 12to perform the regulations and duties as an agency in the system of state agencies in general
2.1.3 Tasks, authority and organizational structure of the People's Council
As local authorities, People's Councils at all levels are responsible for organizing and ensuring the implementation of the constitution and laws in their localities; deciding on local issues prescribed by law; subject to the inspection and supervision of superior state agencies Tasks and powers of local authorities are determined on the based on the delimitation of authority between central and local state agencies and of each level of local government
The Law on Organization of Local Government in 2019 has clearly defined the organizational structure of the People's Council, creating a legal basis to consolidate and perfect the organization and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the People's Councils at all levels The Law stipulates that the People's Councils of central cities may establish more Urban Committees in concentrated urban areas with large scale, high degree of urbanization and with many other specific characteristics different from urban areas city in the province
2.1.4 People's Council representatives
2.1.4.1 Concept of People's Council delegates
The 2013 Constitution stipulates: People's Council representatives represent the will and aspirations of local people; keep close contact with voters, subject to voter's supervision, implement the regime of contacting and reporting to voters on their own activities and those of the People's Council, responding to voters' requests and recommendations; consider and urge the settlement of complaints and denunciations Besides, according to the new provisions of the Law on Organization of Local Government 2019, a member of the People's Council must satisfy the condition that one nationality is Vietnamese nationality
Rights and responsibilities of the People's Council representatives shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Organization of the People's Council and the People's Committee, in Articles 36, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 of this Law
2.2 Election and election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels
2.2.1 Issues on election
2.2.1.1 The definition of election and the electoral system
Currently, there are many different definitions of elections, but in general, they share the following common features:
First, elections are a means of choosing by the people
Second, election is a method of choice to give power (authorization) of the people to the people who represent them
Trang 13In a nutshell, election is the process of making decisions by the people to choose one or more people to hold positions in the system of state agencies Elections are the legal basis for the formation of agencies representing the power of the state
Thus, the concepts of electoral system and the electoral system or voting system are essentially identical Accordingly, when talking about the electoral system, the electoral system can be understood as a set of principles, electoral regulations and social relations formed in this process This whole has the participation of many factors that can be generalized as follows:
First, the regulations and principles on the order, how to conduct, how to determine election results
Second, factors participating in the election such as: political parties, mass media, interest groups, voters (or electors like some special countries in the world), social forces, campaign financial issues
Third, other objective factors: historical traditions, socio-economic and cultural environment are also factors, which have a significant influence on the final results
of the election
2.2.1.2 The role of elections
Elections play a particularly important role in politics as shown in the following reasons:
First, elections have the role of exercising the mandate of citizens and legitimizing the government
Second, elections are the basis of democracy, the content and expression of the rule of law
Third, elections are an important tool for the people to monitor the exercise of state power
Fourth, elections are important way to resolve conflicts and social conflicts by peaceful methods
2.2.1.3 Election Rules
Principle of universal suffrage
Principle of equal voting
Principle of direct and indirect elections
Principle of secret voting
Principle of free elections
2.2.2 Issues on the election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels
2.2.2.1 The concept of election of representatives to the People's Councils at all levels
Election of People's Council representatives means that voters pass their ballots
to consider and select the candidates most trusted by voters to delegate authority and represent them to participate in power agencies in the province local