Vietnam unanimously elected Communist Party General Secretary To Lam as president for a five-year term, consolidating his control over both the party and the state.
The move departs from Vietnam’s tradition of shared leadership, in which the jobs have typically been held by different people, and echoes power structures in China under Xi Jinping and neighboring Laos.
It has been widely expected since Lam’s reelection as Communist Party head in January, when observers noted that his consolidation of party authority positioned him to assume the presidency as well.
Vietnam has been communist for decades. This article is about the head of the communist party becoming the head of state, when previously they were separate roles filled by two different people, both from the communist party.
This isn’t about “communism” per se, it’s about consolidation of power under one individual, in a system where those two roles were traditionally separate.
Like, imagine if the president of the US was also the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader. Oh wait, he basically functionally is currently because of a spineless Congress doing his every bidding. So you can see the problem here, right?
I’m not saying it’ll be just as bad, as I don’t know anything about Lam. But at the very least, it sets a dangerous precedent. He might be a fine upstanding guy, but what’s stopping the next guy from being worse? Or the guy after that? That’s why tradition and precedent can be so important in politics.