The Politburo directed research on merging some provinces.

sap import — Urban and administrative center in Bac Ninh province, the smallest province in Vietnam (illustrative image)

Permanent member of the Secretariat Tran Cam Tu, on behalf of the Politburo and the Secretariat, has just signed and issued a conclusion on a number of contents and tasks for the continued restructuring and streamlining of the political system's organizational apparatus in 2025.

To continue streamlining and perfecting the organization and apparatus of the political system in 2025 and the 2025-2030 term, the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee have assigned the Party Committee of the Government to preside over and coordinate with the Central Organization Committee, the Party Committee of the National Assembly , and relevant Party committees and organizations at all levels to study the orientation for further streamlining and eliminating intermediate administrative levels (district level).

Develop a plan for further restructuring of communes to align with the new organizational model, proposing the organizational structure, functions, tasks, powers, and responsibilities of communes.

Orientation towards merging several provincial-level administrative units; proposing policies to amend and supplement relevant legal regulations and Party regulations, and reporting to the Politburo in the third quarter of 2025.

Vietnam currently has 63 provincial-level administrative units, including 57 provinces and 6 centrally-administered cities; 705 districts; and 10,595 communes. According to regulations of the National Assembly Standing Committee, provinces must meet three criteria: population size, area, and the number of district-level administrative units.

Mountainous and highland provinces must have a population of at least 900,000 and an area of 8,000 km2; provinces in other areas must have a population of 1.4 million and an area of 5,000 km2. Furthermore, a province must have 9 district-level administrative units, including at least one city or town. District and commune-level administrative units also have population and area standards.

According to the conclusion reached on February 14th, the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee assigned the Party Committee of the Government to direct the reorganization of Party organizations within state-owned corporations, general companies, and commercial banks. This reorganization aims to transfer grassroots Party committees (in enterprises) under the Party committees of these corporations and general companies to be directly under local Party committees based on their production and business activities. This task is to be reported to the Secretariat of the Central Committee by the end of the second quarter of 2025. The plan to reorganize the inspection system also needs to be completed soon.

Research into abolishing district-level courts and prosecutor's offices.

The Party Committees of the Central Party Agencies are requested to direct the Party Committees of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy to study the model of abolishing district-level People's Courts and People's Procuracies. These agencies are also to propose amendments and additions to Party policies and State laws related to this issue. These tasks will be reported to the Politburo in the second quarter of 2025.

Last week, during a group discussion at the National Assembly, the Head of the Central Organization Department, Le Minh Hung, stated that this year they will reorganize the operations of the People's Courts and People's Procuracies at the district level to adapt to the situation now that there are no longer police forces at this level.

The Vietnamese People's Court system is currently divided into four levels: the Supreme People's Court; the High People's Court; the People's Courts of provinces and centrally-administered cities; and the People's Courts of districts, towns, and cities under provinces. Military courts at all levels include the Central Military Court; the Military Courts of military regions and equivalents; and the Regional Military Courts.

The People's Procuracy system comprises the Supreme People's Procuracy; the High-Level People's Procuracy; the People's Procuracies of provinces and centrally-administered cities; and the People's Procuracies of districts, towns, and cities under provinces and equivalent levels. In parallel, there are also military procuracies at various levels, including the Central Military Procuracy; the Military Procuracies of military regions and equivalent levels; and the Military Procuracies of the regions.

Orientation towards merging radio and television stations into provincial newspapers.

In conclusion, the Politburo and the Secretariat assigned the Party Committee of the Central Public Security Ministry to preside over the implementation of the plan to organize the police force at three levels, eliminating district-level police forces, ensuring that it is carried out according to the set schedule.

The Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department is leading the research on the direction of merging provincial-level radio and television stations into the newspapers of provincial and city Party committees.

The Central Military Commission will lead the research on the direction for further restructuring of the military organization (including the organization of district-level military agencies); propose additional mechanisms and related policies; and report to the Politburo in the third quarter of 2025.

The Party Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and central mass organizations directed a comprehensive review of the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of affiliated agencies and organizations, especially media agencies, with a view to streamlining them as much as possible, maintaining only truly necessary units. These agencies also studied the reorganization of political and social organizations and mass associations assigned by the Party and State to be directly under the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

The Central Organizing Committee advises the Central Steering Committee on personnel management to direct a comprehensive review of actual personnel needs after organizational restructuring, linked with assessing the capacity of officials, new functions and tasks, and reviewing and improving job positions; and to report to the Politburo on the plan for assigning, managing, allocating, and arranging personnel for the political system for the period 2026-2031 by the end of the second quarter of 2025.

Comment (0)