The National Assembly (NA) passed the draft amendments to the 1992 Constitution with nearly 98 percent of votes on November 28 morning in a session broadcast live on the national TV and radio.

The historic adoption will provide a sustainable legal framework for Vietnam ’s continued integration and development.

After 11 months of collecting feedback from legislators and the public, the draft has been perfected, reflecting the strong will of the entire nation.

The amended Constitution is divided into 11 chapters with 120 articles (one chapter and 27 articles fewer than the previous version), closely following resolutions set at numerous national Party congresses and suggestions made by the Party Central Committee and the Politburo.

With a great deal of new content, the document clearly and fully manifests the democratic and progressive nature of the State and political regime of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and stipulates political, economic, cultural, educational, technological and environmental regulations as well as those on human rights, basic rights and obligations of citizens, national defence, the State apparatus and the process of further Constitution amendments.

Speaking at the sitting, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, who is also Chairman of the Committee for Drafting Amendments to the 1992 Constitution, said that the final legal document is a result of hard-working and enthusiastic discussions by all lawmakers, based on crucial input from people from all walks of life.

The draft is a manifestation of the public’s aspirations for the nation and the current political harmony, he said.

Chairman Hung admitted that differing viewpoints remain on some articles of the draft, but declared that a majority of people and the NA have reach a high level of consensus on the document.

Other different opinions will continue to be heard and studied on the path of national renewal, the chief legislator said.

With thousands of conferences and workshops and tens of millions of people nationwide providing feedback through official channels, the process was a large-scale democratic political and legal activity.
After adopting the full text of the draft, lawmakers also passed a resolution on the enforcement of the amended Constitution.-VNA