New Vietnamese legislature’s first session to elect key leaders

The first session of the 16th National Assembly, Vietnam's legislature, opened in Hanoi on Monday morning, focusing on electing new key leaders to steer the country in the next five years.

The session is expected to last about 11 days, divided into two phases: Phase 1 from April 6 to 12 and Phase 2 from April 20 to 23, with April 24 and 25 reserved if needed.

At the beginning of the session, the National Assembly will review and decide on organizational structure and personnel matters.

It will decide on the numbers of National Assembly vice chairpersons and members of the Standing Committee; elect the chairperson, vice Chairpersons, and members of the Standing Committee based on nominations from the Standing Committee of the 15th legislature.

It will also elect the chairperson of the National Assembly Ethnic Council, heads of the National Assembly committees, the State Auditor General, and the National Assembly Secretary General - Head of the National Assembly Office, based on proposals from the Standing Committee.

The legislature will elect the President based on nominations from the Standing Committee; and the Vice President, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and the Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy based on nominations from the President.

The parliament will also decide on the organizational structure of the government for the 16th National Assembly term based on proposals from the 15th-term government, and elect the Prime Minister based on the President’s nomination.

It will determine the number of government members for the new term based on the Prime Minister’s proposal; approve the Chief Justice’s proposal for the appointment of judges of the Supreme People’s Court; approve the Prime Minister’s nominations for Deputy Prime Ministers, ministers, and other government members; and approve the list of members of the National Defence and Security Council based on the President’s proposal.

National Assembly to decide on five groups of socio-economic issues

Regarding legislative work, Nguyen Van Hien, deputy head of the National Assembly Office, stated that the parliament will review and pass eight laws and one resolution, including the amended Law on Civil Status; the amended Law on the Capital; the amended Law on Access to Information; the amended Law on Belief and Religion; the Law on amendments and supplements to several articles of the Law on Notarization.

The Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; the Law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Law on Legal Aid; the Law on amendments and supplements on several articles of the Law on Emulation and Commendation; and a resolution on coordination mechanisms and special policies to improve the efficiency of preventing and resolving international investment disputes will be also scrutinized.

The legislative body will also consider and decide on five groups of issues related to socio-economic development, finance, the state budget, oversight, and other key matters. These include reviewing supplementary assessments of the implementation of the 2025 socio-economic development plan, as well as the situation in the first months of 2026, he added.

It will also review supplementary assessments of the state budget implementation in 2025 and the early months of 2026; approve the 2024 state budget finalization; and consider and adopt a resolution on the National Assembly’s oversight program for 2027.

According to Hien, the parliament will also review and adopt resolutions on the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2026-2030; the national five-year financial plan for 2026-2030; the public debt borrowing and repayment plan for 2026-2030; and the medium-term public investment plan for 2026-2030, which will serve as a foundation for Vietnam’s development in the next five years.

Nearly 79 million voters across Vietnam cast their ballots to elect delegates to the 16th National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2026-2031 term on March 15, 2026. The results of the election were announced by the National Election Council on March 21.