US embassy cable - 04HANOI1116

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001116 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, VM, DPOL 
SUBJECT: 2004 LOCAL ELECTIONS: AN EXERCISE IN . . .? 
 
REF:  A. 02 Hanoi 1286  B. 01 Hanoi 2964  C.  02 Hanoi 1199 
 
1. (U) Summary: Vietnam's April 25 elections for People's 
Councils will be - on paper - more open and representational 
than in previous years.  The elections are the first since 
the passage of revisions to the Law on Election of Deputies 
to People's Councils in November 2003, and will be marked by 
higher numbers of female and minority candidates, more 
candidates per position, and fewer party members standing 
for seats.  Nonetheless, the whole process remains tightly 
controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which, 
through the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), determined who 
could and could not run.  The results - while perhaps more 
diverse - will not enhance more genuine grass-roots 
democracy nor local empowerment.  Public apathy remains 
high.  End Summary 
 
2. (U) Nationwide elections on April 25 will select People's 
Councils at the provincial, district, and local levels for a 
five-year term.  The councils act as local legislatures; 
their part-time members have oversight over projects and 
budgets at each respective levels of government.  (Ref b 
examined the evolving role of the People's Councils.)  More 
importantly, they vote on members of the People's 
Committees, which run the daily affairs of the local 
governments.  There is also usually overlap between the 
Committees and the Councils, often with the Chairman of the 
Committee acting as a Vice Chairman of the Council, and the 
Chairman of the Council serving as a Vice Chairman of the 
Committee. 
 
3.  (U)  The GVN has launched a large public relations 
campaign related to the elections, newspapers regularly 
feature stories about the elections, voter lists have been 
displayed in precinct polling stations for public 
corrections, and billboards ("Voting is the right and duty 
of citizens") have gone up across the country as part of a 
get-out-the-vote campaign.  In many cases, local officials 
have even distributed candidate lists and biographies door 
to door. Based on historical precedent, the campaign will 
likely be "successful."  According to official statistics, 
in the 2002 National Assembly elections voter turnout was 
99.73%, with most casting their votes before 10a.m. (Ref a). 
 
4. (U) The electoral process is highly structured and 
largely implemented by the VFF, the party-controlled 
umbrella organization which supervises all major mass 
organizations, leagues, religious groups, and unions; even 
the CPV itself belongs.  The elections, which take place 
once every five years, were officially announced 105 days 
before the vote is to take place.  Candidates were then 
chosen by a three-step consultative process.  In the first 
round, VFF committees at each level met and suggested 
possible candidates, and also solicited additional names of 
possible candidates from government offices, mass 
organizations, and neighborhood leaders.  Based on these 
discussions and suggestions, the VFF committees then met a 
second time to draw up a possible list of candidates, which 
it sent to neighborhoods and mass organizations for 
comments.  At this stage, individuals were can also able to 
nominate themselves, or - in a provision added under the new 
electoral law - neighborhoods could put forth a specific 
candidate.  Finally, the VFF met a third time to review all 
the names, and created the final list of candidates 35 days 
before Election Day.  The VFF conducts the electoral 
campaigns by organizing public meetings for candidates, as 
well as by arranging the dissemination of information about 
the candidates through the media.  Candidates generally do 
not undertake individual campaigns and do not have specific 
funds for the election.  On Election Day, voters will be 
presented with a list of possible candidates for their 
constituency, and may cast as many votes are there are 
seats.  Typically, the there are five candidates for three 
positions, but this varies somewhat depending on the 
population of a constituency, as well as between urban and 
rural areas. 
 
5. (U) Amendments to the Law on Election of Deputies of 
People's Councils were passed on November 26, 2003. 
Potentially the most significant of these is that blocks of 
citizens - the size or nature of which is undefined - can 
nominate candidates.  Previously, candidates could only be 
nominated by members of the VFF, or by individuals 
nominating themselves.  According to a UNDP advisor working 
on a project to strengthen the capacity of elected bodies, 
this change could potentially lead to better ties and more 
accountability between representatives and a section of the 
electorate.  Another new change is that there now must be at 
least two more candidates than positions for voters to 
choose from.  Previously the law had only stipulated that 
there must be more candidates than positions, which was 
frequently meant only one extra, who was often just filler - 
too young or inexperienced to appeal to voters.  There are 
on average 1.9 candidates per position in this year's 
election. 
 
6. (U) In addition to the legal changes, the VFF has the 
explicit mandate to improve the "quality and proportion" of 
candidates.  According to Tran Ngoc Nhan, an elections 
expert at the VFF, the VFF's new "six increases and one 
decrease" policy was aimed at increasing the number of 
candidates who are under the age of 35, women, non-CPV 
members, ethnic minorities, members of religious groups, and 
private businesspeople, and decreasing the number of 
candidates who are current government employees.  Figures 
vary from province to province, but overall, on the final 
lists include 32% of candidates who are women, 20% 
minorities, 20.5% under 35 years old, 5.5% from the private 
business sector, and 3.5% from religious groups.  Party 
members still account for the majority of candidates, making 
up 58% of local candidates, 74% of district-level 
candidates, and 76% of provincial candidates.  These indeed 
represent some increases for women, youth, and minorities, 
but little change since the last election in the number of 
Party member candidates, according to the UNDP expert.  Only 
1.3% of candidates are self nominated. 
 
7. (SBU) Criticisms of this year's elections have included: 
information about the legal changes were poorly distributed 
and not until early January; although the election period 
was lengthened from 90 to 105 days to allow for more public 
consultation on candidates, the elections were announced 
immediately before Tet, so the extra two weeks were lost to 
Vietnam's long holiday.  Also, candidates appear to have had 
only limited access to the mass media to promote their 
campaigns, as stipulated under the new law.  Many voters 
admit total lack of knowledge about who the candidates are 
and what they stand for.  Some have pledged privately to 
vote only for the youngest candidates, in hope of stirring 
up change.  Similarly, others resolved only to vote for non- 
CPV members.  Many, perhaps most, expressed little optimism 
that the results of the elections would be in any way 
meaningful, and few Hanoi voters could describe exactly what 
People's Councils do. 
 
8. (U) Another failed initiative in this year's elections 
was an anti-corruption move by the National Assembly 
Standing Committee, which required candidates publicly to 
declare their personal assets.  The move was broadly 
declared on March 17, but then quietly scrapped.  A Prime 
Minister's office spokesman claimed that the reason the move 
was dropped was that private businesspeople had threatened 
to drop out of the campaign if forced to reveal their 
assets.  (Note:  In the 2002 National Assembly elections, 
some constituencies posted these declarations publicly, 
while others made them available upon request at the local 
VFF office -- ref c.  End note) 
 
9. (SBU) Comment:  Despite the media fanfare about the 
elections, the process remains very much under tight 
official control, with the GVN and CPV still reserving the 
ability to veto candidacies, including those self- or 
community-nominated candidates from outside the official 
structure.  More women, ethnic minorities, and youths on the 
Councils may be perhaps a positive step, but given the 
clearly defined targets for percentages of each group to 
become candidates, these welcome goals were rather anti- 
democratic in nature, albeit more representational.  The 
People's Councils elections are in the end more about 
encouraging a sense of public participation in local 
legislative processes than in stimulating genuine grass- 
roots democracy or true local empowerment.  The public 
apathy that has so far manifested itself is perhaps the 
clearest comment on the failure of this gesture. 
BURGHARDT