Vice President of Vietnam

Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Emblem of Vietnam
Incumbent Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh since 7 April 2016
Appointer	The National Assembly on the recommendation of the President
Term length	None
Inaugural holder	Tôn Đức Thắng
Formation	9 November 1946

The Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Phó Chủ tịch nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), known as Deputy Chairman of the Council of State (Phó Chủ tịch Hội đồng Nhà nước) from 1981 to 1992, is the vice head of state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Vice President is appointed on the recommendation of the President to the National Assembly. The president can also recommend the vice president's dismissal and resignation from office.^[1] Upon the President's recommendation, the Vice President has to be approved by the National Assembly. The main duty of a Vice President is to help the President in discharging his duties – in certain cases, the Vice President can be empowered by the president to replace him in the discharge of some of his duties.^[2] If the president can't discharge of his duties, the Vice President becomes acting president^[3] (Tôn Đức Thắng and Nguyễn Hữu Thọ were both acting presidents for a short period). In case of vacancy, the vice president will remain acting president until the National Assembly elects a new president.^[3]

While the office of Vice President was first mentioned in the 1946 constitution,^[4] Tôn Đức Thắng became the first Vice President of Vietnam in 1960. The 1980 constitution renamed the office of vice president to Deputy Chairman of the Council of State. Unlike the 1946, 1959 and the present constitution, the 1980 constitution did not mentioned what kind of authority the office of vice president had — for instance, it was not mentioned if a vice president would take the responsibilities of acting head of state if the head of state was incapacitated.^[5] In 1992, the name for the post of deputy chairman of the Council of State was reverted to its original name; vice president.^[6]

Vice Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1960–76)

No. [note 1]		Name	Took office	Left office	President	Portrait
1	1	Tôn Đức Thắng (1888–1980)	1960	23 September 1969	Hồ Chí Minh (1945–69)
2	2	Nguyễn Lương Bằng (1904–979)	22 September 1969	2 July 1976	Tôn Đức Thắng (1969–76)	—
3	3	Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910–96)	25 April 1976	2 July 1976	Tôn Đức Thắng (1976–80)

Vice Presidents of the Republic of Vietnam (1967–76)

No. [note 1]		Name	Took office	Left office	President	Portrait
4	1	Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930–2011)	1967	1971	Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1965–75)
5	2	Trần Văn Hương (1903–82)	1971	21 April 1975	Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1965–75)	—

Vice Presidents of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)

Vice Presidents (1976–1981)

No. [note 1]		Name	Took office	Left office	President	Portrait
2	1	Nguyễn Lương Bằng (1904–79)	2 July 1976	2 September 1979	Tôn Đức Thắng (1976–80)	—
3	2	Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910–96)	2 July 1976	4 July 1981	Tôn Đức Thắng (1976–80)

Deputy Chairmen of the Council of State (1981–92)

No. [note 1]		Name	Took office	Left office	Head(s) of state	Portrait
3	2	Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (1910–96)	4 July 1981	19 July 1992	Trường Chinh (1981–87) Võ Chí Công (1987–92)
6	3	Chu Huy Mân (1913–2006)	4 July 1981	December 1986	Trường Chinh (1981–87)	—
7	4	Xuân Thủy (1912–85)	4 July 1981	July 1982	Trường Chinh (1981–87)
8	5	Lê Thanh Nghị (1911–89)	July 1982	December 1986	Trường Chinh (1981–87)	—
9	6	Huỳnh Tấn Phát (1913–89)	1982	1989	Trường Chinh (1981–87) Võ Chí Công (1987–1992)
10	7	Nguyễn Quyết (born 1922)	19 April 1987	19 July 1992	Võ Chí Công (1987–92)
11	8	Đàm Quang Trung (1921–95)	19 April 1987	19 July 1992	Võ Chí Công (1987–92)
12	9	Lê Quang Đạo (1921–99)	19 April 1987	19 July 1992	Võ Chí Công (1987–92)
13	10	Nguyễn Thị Định (1920–92)	19 April 1987	19 July 1992	Võ Chí Công (1987–92)	—

Vice Presidents (1992–present)

No. [note 1]		Name	Took office	Left office	President	Portrait
14	11	Nguyễn Thị Bình (born 1927)	8 October 1992	12 August 2002	Lê Đức Anh (1992–97) Trần Đức Lương (1997–2006)
15	12	Trương Mỹ Hoa (born 1945)	12 August 2002	25 July 2007	Trần Đức Lương (1997–2006) Nguyễn Minh Triết (2006–11)
16	13	Nguyễn Thị Doan (born 1951)	25 July 2007	8 April 2016	Nguyễn Minh Triết (2006–11) Trương Tấn Sang (2011–16)
17	14	Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (born 1959)	8 April 2016	Incumbent	Trần Đại Quang (2016–present)

Notes

1. These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting vice head of state. The first column shows how many vice presidents there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many vice presidents there was in that state.

References

1. "Article 103 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. "Article 107 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. "Article 108 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
4. "Article 44 of the 1946 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
5. "Articles 104–112 of the 1980 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
6. "Articles 101–108 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Missing or empty |title= (help);  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.