Eighty years on: From first ballot to Vietnam’s aspiration to rise

Eighty years ago, on January 6, 1946, history was made when, for the first time, all Vietnamese citizens aged 18 and above, regardless of gender, wealth, ethnicity, religion or social background, cast their ballots to elect the National Assembly, the highest representative body of the people and the supreme state authority of the newly founded nation. The National Assembly went on to decide the country’s most critical issues, including adopting the Constitution and laying the legal foundations of an independent Vietnam.