The 13th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is taking place and as usual, there is a lot of talk about the party’s democratic concentration, especially in the present situation of some “special” cases.
A rare and rather unexpected voice can be heard from Mr. Pham The Duyet, former member of the Politburo, and the former leader of the Central Vietnam Fatherland Front, reminding the important role of democracy in the party:
“Our Party respects the principle of centralization and democracy. That is something that must always be practiced, but researching the past courses shows that it is necessary to attach great importance to democracy, not to emphasize too much focus on concentration and lose democracy.”
According to Duyet, democracy in the party, whereby members of the lower level can speak up, propose ideas or introduce leaders they trust, are weak while the centralization is increased.
Party centralization is not new to those familiar with the political situation in Vietnam, where most, if not all, leadership positions in the country and provinces were led by their supervisors so there is no election from lower to higher levels.
This time, however, the aspect of centralization was emphasized more. To the extent that on January 21, 2021, Deputy Head of the Central Organizing Commission Nguyen Thanh Binh said that anyone who introduces any candidate in this meeting that differs from the opinion of the Central Committee should be responsible for those recommendations, according to Vietnamese newspapers.
With such a warning, who dare to think about democracy, even within the party?
One poll and votes for many candidates who are inside and outside the Communist Party of Vietnam
Although there is a clear tendency to increase decision-making power from a few above by centralizing the organization, the Communist Party’s main argument is that it always wants to improve democracy in all institutions as well as the party always aims to and receive higher and higher trust from the Vietnamese people.
In fact, the Vietnamese social network shows that the relationship is not very good between the people and the party.
It should be noted that in Vietnam there is no official poll on the people’s confidence in the government or the ruling party by independent organizations, which is very common in democratic countries.
A rare online activity called The Leadership Election of Democratic Vietnam organized by the author of this article, if understood as a poll, gives a picture much different from the description of the Communist leader.
In a small poll of this scope, a list of the top four members of the Communist Party and other prominent activists and dissidents are proposed to be voted on by voters.
Besides those recommended in this list, voters can also recommend their own candidates. The candidate recommended to receive the most votes will replace the candidate on the original list with the fewest votes.
We believe that this protocol, while only applicable to those who have access to the Internet, and not communities throughout Vietnam, has also brought more freedom of choice and authority to voters.
People can nominate another candidate, or they can nominate themselves, and campaign for their candidates.
As voted by more than 1,400 people the question “In your opinion, which political leader/organization can guarantee a democratic and prosperous Vietnam, its people free and equal?” of the poll, the Communist party occupies a very modest position. Half of their candidates have been replaced by outsiders nominated by a pollster.
The total number of votes so far for all incumbent Communist Party members came under fifth place, far below the number of votes for people like Tran Huynh Duy Thuc (35.7% of the vote). and Mr. Nguyen Quang A (more than 16.2% of the votes).
It is worth noting that Mr. Thuc was jailed for more than ten years and remained in prison for many more years while Mr. Quang A, another dissident, is regularly monitored, according to what he himself wrote on social media.
We believe this Election/Poll, although data are still limited, suggests a possibility that the Communist party could lose if a free election is held in the near future, giving whether it is a popular election for the President of the country (American style) or a parliamentary election for a leading party (UK style).
Is there another option?
The Communist Party of course has many reasons for not believing the poll’s results or denying the need for any popular elections by repeating people’s love for them.
If they choose to argue, they can argue that their model of leadership is based on Meritocracy, away used and praised by China, as Daniel A. Bell described in the book titled “The China Model: The Merit Regime and the Limits of Democracy.”
However, as the book’s critics have mentioned, especially Timothy Garton Ash, professor at Oxford University, the Honors regime has not discussed how good or bad it is, in fact is not applicable in China or anywhere in the world. It is simply sectarianism, cronyism, mutual patronage, and corruption.
In addition, true democracy is not only based on choosing leaders, but also on a democratic environment with strong checks and balances, which countries like Vietnam and China are in short supply.
Moreover, as described above, the concentration of power is now challenging democracy even within the party, which is essential for Honesty to come to fruition. To put it simply: democracy in the party doesn’t exist, let alone democracy for the people.
Unless there is a real people’s election, events like the 13th Congress can only be considered as a poll, or even incomplete, who is supported within the party.
If the Communist Party prides itself on the love and trust of the people, we wonder why these party leaders do not participate in a real popular election to assert and increase their legitimacy?
Their participation will certainly contribute to the spirit that the poll mentioned above has always raised in all its announcements: “Absolutely fair, honest, respectful of all Candidates and parties.”
The Communist Party can do this, I truly believe that the Vietnamese people are thankful.
And as long as there is no real election, events like the 13th Congress can only be seen as polls, even incomplete, about who is supported within the party only.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
Source: https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/forum-55866314
