The 13th Communist Party Central Committee on Sunday morning elected Party chief and President Nguyen Phu Trong for a third term as Vietnam's Party General Secretary. 

The first plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee took place on Sunday morning to choose members of new Politburo, the Party General Secretary, the Secretariat, the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission and this commission's chairperson.

In the meeting, Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, 77, was re-elected for another five-year term, the third in a row.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on behalf of the Politburo,
congrats Nguyen Phu Trong on being elected for a third
term as Party General Secretary. Photo by VNA.

He was re-elected Saturday to the 13th Communist Party Central Committee, which includes 180 official and 20 alternate members.

Trong was among "special cases" introduced by the 12th Party Central Committee for re-election to the 13th Party Central Committee since they exceed the age limit as per existing regulations.

He became General Secretary of the Party Central Committee in 2011, and was re-elected to the position in 2016.

Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at a
meeting with the people in Hanoi, October 14, 2020.
Photo by VnExpress/Vo Hai.

Nguyen Phu Trong, born in 1944 in Hanoi’s Dong Anh District, joined the Communist Party in 1967 and holds a Ph.D degree in politics and a bachelor degree in literature.

He was General Secretary of the Party Central Committee in the 11th, 12th and 13th tenures, a member of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Politburos, a member of the Politburo's Standing Board (August 1999 - April 2001), and a member of the Party Central Committee in the tenures from the 7th to 13th.

In October 2018, he was elected as State President. He was Chairman of the National Assembly in the 11th and 12th tenures.

Trong has also been Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Head of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Control. He was a member of the National Assembly in the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14 tenures.

The 13th Party Congress, the nation’s premier political event, opened last Tuesday. It will select Party, State, Government and National Assembly leaders for the next five years, besides finalizing socio-economic development policies for the 2021-25 period and orientations until 2030 with a vision towards 2045.

The congress has attracted the highest participation so far, with 1,587 delegates representing 5.1 million Party members from across the country.