SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Official name: Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) Location: South East Asia International organisations: The Association of South East Asian Nations, The Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, The United Nations Borders: Cambodia, China, Laos Coastline: South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, Tonkin Gulf Land area: 329,560 Km2 Population: 81,100,000 Ethnicity: Over 90% of the people are Vietnamese. There are small Chinese, Thai, Khmer and other minority communities. Languages: Vietnamese is the official language. French, English and Chinese are used in urban areas. Religion: Vietnam is officially an atheist country, but the majority of the population are Buddhists or follow one of the local variants such as Hoa Hao ar Cao Dai. There is a substantial Catholic Christian minority.

Form of government: People's republic (in practice, a Communist dictatorship). Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces and three municipalities.
Capital: Hanoi
Constitution: The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam came into effect on 15 April 1992.
Head of state: The President, elected by the National Assembly from among its members for a five-year term. The President's power depends on his position in the Communist Party. President Tran Duc Luong was elected on 24 September 1997
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President.
Legislature: The National Assembly (Quoc-Hoi) is a unicameral legislature with 498 members who serve five-year terms. Only candidates who are members of or approved by the Communist Party can stand for election. The last such election was held in May 2002.
Electoral authority: Elections are conducted by the government.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 6

Political history

The three Vietnamese kingdoms of Annam, Cochin and Tonkin were brought under French control between 1862 and 1883. French Indochina was occupied by Japan in 1940, and following the Japanese surrender in 1945 the Communist-controlled nationalist movement declared Vietnam's independence. When the French attempted to reassert control, war broke out and the French were defeated in 1954. Ho Chi Minh then became ruler of a Communist state in the north, while a weak anti-Communist regime was established in the south under American protection.

Ho Chi Minh

Nguyen Van Thieu

Communist attempts to take power in the South led to the Vietnam War, which raged from 1964 to 1975, at one time engaging 500,000 American troops. Under President Nguyen Van Thieu (1965-75) presidential and legislative elections were held in the south, but Thieu's regime was essentially an authoriarian one, though allowance must be made for the fact that it was under constant Communist armed attack. The Americans withdrew following the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, and in 1975 Saigon fell to the invading North Vietnamese army.

Since then the Communist Party of Vietnam has ruled the country and no opposition has been permitted. Over the past decade there has been a half-hearted economic reform, but no concessions in the political system. The current Party leader, Nong Duc Manh, is believed to be a moderniser, but the power of conservatives in the party and the army will probably continue to frustrate reform.

Human Rights Watch's 2002 Report on Vietnam noted that: "Despite promises by the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) to accelerate the process of reform and promote democracy, Vietnam's human rights record continued to deteriorate during 2002. National Assembly elections conducted in May continued Vietnam's tradition of single party rule, while proponents of multi-party democracy, human rights, and religious freedom were arrested or closely monitored. The government continued to stifle free expression and restrict the exercise of other basic human rights."