Trust sent to the Party: Affirming the special role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the political system

Professor Phan Trung Ly, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee, proposed to more clearly institutionalize the Front's role of social supervision and criticism into a soft power mechanism in the political system.

Affirming the special position and role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front

Commenting on the draft documents of the 14th National Congress of the Party at the 5th Conference of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) on November 7, Mr. Ngo Sach Thuc, former Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the VFF, said that Resolution 43 of the 8th Conference of the 13th Central Committee, for the first time, the Party mentioned the Strategy of Great National Unity (ĐĐKTDT) to 2035 and vision to 2045. According to Mr. Thuc, this is a new development step in the Party's strategic thinking, clearly demonstrating the determination to promote people's strength as the center and subject of national development in the new era; closely linking trust, consensus and national aspirations.

Proposing to more clearly institutionalize the role of social supervision and criticism of the Front into a soft power mechanism in the political system.

PHOTO: TUAN MINH

The Great Unity Movement has changed from a principled policy to a long-term strategic vision. Previously, the Party always considered the Great Unity Movement as a "strategic line" and "a source of great strength" for the Vietnamese revolution. However, for the first time, the Party has put forward a Great Unity Movement strategy. This means that great unity is not only a motto for action but has been elevated to a national strategy with clear goals, orientations, tasks, solutions and roadmap. This demonstrates the Party's new thinking and long-term vision on building and consolidating the great unity bloc in the new context.

From there, Mr. Thuc said that the draft Political Report on the section on the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations, on page 8, opens with the statement: "The Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations are organized and rearranged to ensure unified and effective operations...". According to Mr. Thuc, this assessment is not commensurate with the achievements of the Front's work and is only based on the results from July 2025 to present; it does not reflect the entire 5 years of the 13th Party Congress term as well as the past 40 years of innovation.

Mr. Thuc suggested that a more appropriate assessment should be added. Specifically, the above content should be rewritten as: "The Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations have many innovations in reorganizing and streamlining the apparatus, expanding the great solidarity bloc, promoting the strength of the people and the ethnic minority bloc".

Similarly, Dr. Nguyen Viet Chuc, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education , suggested that the documents of the 14th Party Congress should once again affirm the special position and role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the political system, as a basis for the Vietnam Fatherland Front to operate more effectively in the coming period. After the Congress, the 14th Central Committee issued a specialized resolution on the work of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the new period - the era of the Vietnamese nation's rise.

According to Dr. Nguyen Viet Chuc, over the past 95 years, the Vietnam Fatherland Front has made great contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland and has been highly appreciated by the people. The Party and the people always trust the Vietnam Fatherland Front because that organization is the center that gathers all classes of people to unite around the Party for the cause of national liberation and national construction. However, due to new tasks and situations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front has grown stronger and stronger, and five socio-political organizations with a long tradition in the political system, namely the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Women's Union, the General Confederation of Labor, the Veterans Association, and the Vietnam Farmers' Association, have joined the Vietnam Fatherland Front. The position and role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front are especially important in the political system. Therefore, it is necessary for the 14th Congress documents to once again affirm the special role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in the political system.

HAVE A MANDATORY RECEIPT AND EXPLANATION MECHANISM

Meanwhile, Professor Phan Trung Ly suggested that the Political Report of the 14th National Congress should emphasize more the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations, especially in monitoring, social criticism and policy recommendations. "This is not only a socio-political issue but also a fundamental institutional requirement to ensure that the people's right to mastery is actually implemented," Mr. Ly emphasized.

Professor Phan Trung Ly, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee, commented on the draft documents of the 14th National Party Congress on November 7.

PHOTO: TUAN MINH

From there, Professor Phan Trung Ly proposed to more clearly institutionalize the role of social supervision and criticism of the Front into a soft power mechanism in the political system. According to him, it is necessary to clearly recognize that social supervision and criticism of the Front is not "auxiliary" but a form of supervision of the people's power, established by the Constitution and decisions of the Politburo.

Recently, the Front's social supervision and criticism activities have "done a lot of work" and have made many positive contributions, but there are also many limitations. Specifically, the scope of the Front's social supervision and criticism is "still limited and limited". The Front's social supervision and criticism activities are also more formal than substantive. "The results have been achieved, but the effectiveness has not been achieved yet", Mr. Phan Trung Ly frankly said.

Professor Phan Trung Ly suggested that the draft documents of the 14th National Party Congress should supplement a mandatory legal mechanism for state agencies, Party organizations, and authorities at all levels to be responsible for receiving and explaining the results of supervision and criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. For example, reports synthesizing opinions and recommendations of voters and people, sent to the National Assembly, must have feedback from the National Assembly and Government agencies... This requires a legal framework to specifically define the authority, process, standards, and accountability after supervision and criticism.

Along with that, Professor Phan Trung Ly proposed to build a social policy feedback mechanism in the direction that the Front's objections to a draft law should be included in the official file, considered a mandatory process in the process of building and promulgating laws. "Any issue of acceptance or non-acceptance must be answered to the Front, it cannot be done in a roundabout way like the current way. I hope for a mandatory mechanism so that the voice of our Front becomes a legal process in the activities of the state, not an encouragement or motivation as it is now", Mr. Ly emphasized.

In addition, Professor Phan Trung Ly also proposed to innovate the content and methods of social monitoring and criticism in a modern, digital and evidence-based direction. Social monitoring cannot stop at the form of "reporting" or "raising issues", but must become a scientific, professional and data-based activity. Professor Ly suggested to digitally transform the Front's social monitoring and criticism work, apply social data analysis, AI technology as well as improve the capacity of Front officials in policy research skills, legal analysis, legislative criticism techniques and social governance...

"With the innovative thinking of the 14th Congress, I think that promoting the role of supervision and social criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front is promoting the people's mastery in the conditions of a socialist rule-of-law state; it is the core factor to build a clean, strong, creative and people-serving political system," affirmed Professor Phan Trung Ly.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/niem-tin-gui-dang-khang-dinh-vai-tro-dac-biet-cua-mttq-vn-trong-he-thong-chinh-tri-185251114203022521.htm