The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Thủ tướng Chính phủ nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), known as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch Hội đồng Bộ trưởng) from 1981 to 1992, is the highest office within the Central Government. The prime minister is simultaneously the Secretary of the Government Caucus Commission, a Party organ on government affairs, and Deputy Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly.[1] Throughout its history, the office has been responsible, at least in theory but not always in practice, for handling Vietnam's internal policies. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all the prime ministers of the Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office. The current prime minister is Phạm Minh Chính, since 5 April 2021. He is sixth-ranked in the Political Bureau (Politburo).[2]
The Office of the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to Hồ Chí Minh, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic. The office has no official connection, or lineage, to the heads of government of the former South Vietnam (with the exception of Huỳnh Tấn Phát, a communist and the last head of government of South Vietnam). Officially there have been 8 prime ministers of Vietnam,[3] but there have been 29 prime ministers of Vietnam if the prime ministers of the Empire of Vietnam and South Vietnam are counted.[4]
The Prime Minister is elected by the proposal of the President of Vietnam to the National Assembly and is responsible to the National Assembly, which elects all ministers to government. Activity reports by the Prime Minister must be given to the National Assembly, while the Standing Committee of the National Assembly supervises the activities of the Central Government and the Prime Minister. Finally, the deputies of the National Assembly have the right to question the Prime Minister and other members of government.[5]
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Political party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hồ Chí Minh [6] | 17 August 1945 | 20 September 1955 | Communist Party of Indochina Worker's Party of Vietnam | |||
| — | Huỳnh Thúc Kháng [7] | 31 May 1946 | 21 September 1946 | Independent | |||
| 2 | Phạm Văn Đồng | 20 September 1955 | 2 July 1976 | Worker's Party of Vietnam | |||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Political party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State of Vietnam (1949–1955) | |||||||
| 1 | Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (Bảo Đại) (1913–1997) | 14 June 1949 | 21 January 1950 | Independent | |||
| 2 | – | Nguyễn Phan Long (1889–1960) | 21 January 1950 | 27 April 1950 | Constitution Party | ||
| 3 | – | Trần Văn Hữu (1896–1984) | 6 May 1950 | 3 June 1952 | |||
| 4 | Nguyễn Văn Tâm (1893–1990) | 23 June 1952 | 17 December 1953 | ||||
| 5 | Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc (1914–1990) | 11 January 1954 | 16 June 1954 | ||||
| 6 | Ngô Đình Diệm (1901–1963) | 16 June 1954 | 26 October 1955 | Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party | |||
| Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975) | |||||||
| 1 | Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (1908–1976) | 4 November 1963 | 28 February 1964 | Independent | |||
| (2) | Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013) | 28 February 1964 | 27 August 1964 | Military | |||
| – | Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003) | 29 August 1964 | 3 September 1964 | ||||
| (2) | Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013) | 3 September 1964 | 4 November 1964 | Military | |||
| 3 | Trần Văn Hương (1902–1982) | 4 November 1964 | 27 January 1965 | ||||
| – | Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003) | 27 January 1965 | 15 February 1965 | ||||
| 4 | Phan Huy Quát (1908–1979) | 16 February 1965 | 5 June 1965 | ||||
| 5 | Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930–2011) | 14 June 1965 | 1 September 1967 | Military | |||
| 6 | Nguyễn Văn Lộc (1922–1992) | 1 November 1967 | 17 May 1968 | Military | |||
| (3) | Trần Văn Hương | 28 May 1968 | 22 August 1969 | National Social Democratic Front | |||
| 7 | Trần Thiện Khiêm (1925–2021) | 22 August 1969 | 5 April 1975 | National Social Democratic Front | |||
| 8 | Nguyễn Bá Cẩn (1930–2009) | 5 April 1975 | 25 April 1975 | Vietnam Workers and Farmers Party | |||
| 9 | Vũ Văn Mẫu (1914–1998) | 28 April 1975 | 30 April 1975 | Force for National Reconciliation | |||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Political party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
| Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | |||||||
| 1 | Phạm Văn Đồng | 2 July 1976 | 18 December 1980 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| Chairman of the Council of Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | |||||||
| 1 | Phạm Văn Đồng | 18 December 1980 | 18 June 1987 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 2 | Police senior colonel Phạm Hùng | 18 June 1987 | 10 March 1988† | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 3 | Đỗ Mười | 22 June 1988 | 9 August 1991 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| — | Võ Văn Kiệt | 10 March 1988 | 22 June 1988 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 4 | 9 August 1991 | 22 September 1992 | |||||
| Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam | |||||||
| 4 | Võ Văn Kiệt | 22 September 1992 | 25 September 1997 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 5 | Phan Văn Khải [8] | 25 September 1997 | 27 June 2006 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 6 | Army Major Nguyễn Tấn Dũng | 27 June 2006 | 6 April 2016 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 7 | Nguyễn Xuân Phúc | 7 April 2016 | 5 April 2021 | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
| 8 | Police lieutenant general Phạm Minh Chính | 5 April 2021 | Incumbent | Communist Party of Vietnam | |||
1. The Politburo of the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the CPV and the Central Government. The membership composition, and the order of rank of the individual Politburo members is decided in an election within the newly formed Central Committee in the aftermath of a Party Congress. The Central Committee can overrule the Politburo, but that does not happen often.[9]
2. These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting head of government. The first column shows how many heads of government there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many heads of government there was in that state.
3. The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo. According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he was standing for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee. The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.
4. Phạm Văn Đồng became 4th-ranked member in the Politburo hierarchy when Hồ Chí Minh, the 1st ranked, died in 1969.
5. Phạm Văn Đồng was ranked 2nd in the Politburo hierarchy when Lê Duẩn, the General Secretary of the Central Committee, died on 10 July 1986.
6. Died in office.
General
The prime ministers, and when they took and left office, was taken from these sources:
Specific