Hanoi accelerates preparations for general election

Hanoi (VNA) – Preparations are being hastened in Hanoi for the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly (NA) and all-level People’s Councils for the 2016 – 2021 tenure.

The election will be held on May 22, 2016, which is a Sunday in line with the law.

Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, a member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Standing Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, inspected the arrangements for the voting on April 7.

Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF)’s municipal committee, Vu Hong Khanh, said they had conducted 35 inspections across the city to timely resolve related issues and monitor the settlement of complaints and denunciations.

The committee also received the public feedback and proposed the handling of 32 petitions.

Le Thi Kim Oanh, Khanh’s deputy, said as communications are pivotal to the election, the municipal VFF committee posted 130 relevant stories on its website and media outlets, while holding routine meetings to receive feedback from localities and seek to tackle bottlenecks.

Voters’ opinions have also been collected as the committee found that there were many different viewpoints regarding the nomination of candidates for the NA and People’s Council seats. That would promote people’s direct participation in the building of pure and strong local administrations, she added.

Oanh reported that meetings have been organised to impart the law on the election of NA and People’s Council deputies, along with the Party’s related documents, to grassroots officials.

Additionally, it gave guidance on the collection of constituents’ comments on and votes of confidence in the candidates.

On March 15, the Hanoi VFF Committee received 87 application papers from candidates running for the NA deputy position. The applications are from 40 candidates introduced by agencies and organisations and 47 independent candidates.

Hanoi also recorded 205 candidacies for the seat in the municipal People’s Council, including 196 nominated and nine self-nominated candidates.

According to the 2013 Constitution, the Vietnam Fatherland Front is responsible for the tasks of creating social consensus; contributing to building a strong Party and administration through social supervision and criticism; and developing relations between the people of Vietnam and other nations around the world.-VNA