As head of state, the president represents Vietnam both domestically and internationally, and maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government and safeguards the independence and territorial integrity of the country.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party nominates candidates to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which then confirms and nominates those candidates for official election by all delegates of the National Assembly.

The president is furthermore the nominal supreme commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and chairman of the Council for National Defense and Security.

For instance, while the inaugural president, Hồ Chí Minh, was also the chairman of the Communist Party, making him (in that capacity) the first ranking member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, was not a member of the Politburo and served as a symbolic figure under General Secretary Lê Duẩn.

Four persons served concurrently as head of both the party and state: Hồ Chí Minh (1951–1969), Trường Chinh (1986), Nguyễn Phú Trọng (2018–2021), and Tô Lâm (2024).

The 1959 constitution significantly reduced the power of the president, making the president the de jure leader of Vietnam while handling most of the de facto power to the post of general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

For instance, while Hồ Chí Minh was ranked as first member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Vietnam, his successor, Tôn Đức Thắng, was a symbolic figure with little power.

[7] The post of head of state was strengthened in the 1980 Constitution by the appointment of Trường Chinh who was, by order of precedence, the second-highest-ranking member in the Politburo, behind Lê Duẩn.

[9] This was the first time in Vietnamese history where the highest-ranking member of the Politburo does not hold post of either general secretary or chairman (was in existence from 1951 to 1969) of the party.

[10][11] Since Trương Tấn Sang is first-ranked member of the Politburo, he is the body's unofficial head.

[14] On the other hands, presidents of Vietnam are regularly one of the top-ranked members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, making them practically among the most influential figures of the Vietnamese politics alongside the constitutional powers that they gained from their formal presidency.

The former president Võ Văn Thưởng was listed as the fourth-ranking figure in the current CPV Politburo, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng served as the state's president from 2018 to 2021 while being the incumbent General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the title for the highest-ranking member in the Politburo as well as in the whole Communist Party of Vietnam that he had held undisrupted since 2011.