Both of these offices are separate from the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who leads the CPV and is head of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission.

After 1986 Vietnam reduced its totalitarian government to an authoritarian one and has inherited many legacies of the past, with the freedom of assembly, association, expression, press and religion as well as civil society activism being tightly restricted.

[1][2] There are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all religious activity is controlled by the CPV, dissent is not permitted, and civil rights are curtailed.

The Vietnamese constitution and legislation provides for regular elections for the office of the President of the Socialist Republic, the National Assembly and the People's Councils.

The President is elected by National Assembly for a five-year term and acts as the de jure commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security.

The executive branch is responsible for the implementation of political, economic, cultural, social, national defence, security and external activities of the state.

The Supreme People's Procuracy observes the implementation of state organs and makes sure that Vietnamese citizens follow the law.

[10] The CPV's claim to legitimacy was retained following the collapse of communism in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 by its commitment to the thoughts of Hồ Chí Minh, according to Sophie Quinn-Judge.

Others see Hồ Chí Minh Thought as a political umbrella term whose main function is to smuggle in non-socialist ideas and policies without challenging socialist legality.

[13] As became clear because of the Đổi Mới reforms, the Party could not base its rule on defending only the workers and the peasants, which was officially referred to as the "working class-peasant alliance".

[13] In recent years, the Party has stopped representing a specific class, but instead the "interests of the entire people", which includes entrepreneurs.

In the face of de-emphasising the role of Marxism–Leninism, the Party has acquired a broader ideology, placing more emphasis on nationalism, developmentalism, and becoming the protector of tradition.

"[7] According to the Party's statute, amended at the 9th National Congress on 22 April 2001, the CPV was "established and trained by President Hồ Chí Minh, has led the Vietnamese people to carry out successfully the August Revolution, establishing the Democratic Republic of Việt Nam, now the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam, to defeat foreign invaders, to abolish the colonial and feudalist regime, to liberate and reunify the country, and then carry out the cause of renovation and socialist construction and firmly defend national independence.

"[7] It believes in socialist internationalism of the working class, and supports the "struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress of the world's people.

Its aim is to create "a strong, independent, prosperous and democratic country with an equitable and civilized society, to realise socialism and ultimately, communism."

It practices "criticism, self-criticism, and strict discipline" and pursues "collective leadership and individual responsibility, and promoting comradeship and solidarity in line with the Party's political programs and statutes.

The political system in Vietnam is led by the CPV, and it "leads, respects and promotes the role of the State, the Vietnamese Fatherland Front (VFF) and other socio-political organisations.

"[7] In 2021, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, was re-elected for his third term in office, meaning he is Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades.

The former President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Trương Tấn Sang (2011–2016) was directly elected from the provinces at the 8th Party Congress, held in 1996.

Since the full Central Committee meets only once a year, the Politburo functions as the Party's leading collective decision-making body.

[24] The Secretariat is also elected by the Central Committee, and is headed by the General Secretary (Vietnamese: Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam).

[7] Notable member organisations of the VFF include the General Confederation of Labour, the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union and the Veteran Association, among others.

The Government is a unified administration responsible for the implementation of political, economic, cultural, social, national defence, security and external activities of the state.

[32] The National Assembly (Vietnamese: Quốc hội) is a unicameral legislative body, and is governed on the basis of democratic centralism.

The country's highest judicial organ is the Supreme People's Court (SPC) (Vietnamese: Tòa án Nhân dân Tối cao).

According to the Government Web Portal, the operating principles of the courts are, during hearings, that the "judges and jurors are independent and only obey the laws."

Although the constitution provides for independent judges and lay assessors (who lack administrative training), the United States Department of State maintains that Vietnam lacks an independent judiciary, in part because the Communist Party selects judges and vets them for political reliability.

In an effort to increase judicial independence, the government transferred local courts from the Ministry of Justice to the SPC in September 2002.

Outside the ruling troika, it was Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, the Chairman of the Government Office, who was elected with the highest margin, with 94.59 percent of the votes.

[49] In his victory speech, Trương Tấn Sang said, "I pledge to improve my moral quality and study the example of the late President Hồ Chí Minh to cooperate with the government to bring Vietnam to become a fully industrialized country by 2015.