HANOI – Vietnam’s Communist Party has nominated Mr Vo Van Thuong to be the country’s new president, two party sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The party’s Central Committee approved an earlier decision by the Politburo – Vietnam’s highest decision-making body – to nominate Mr Thuong.

The decision will need approval by the rubber-stamp National Assembly, which is due to hold an extraordinary session on Thursday.

At 52, Mr Thuong is currently the youngest member of the Politburo.

His appointment comes amid an anti-corruption campaign, dubbed the “blazing furnace”, under which hundreds of officials have been investigated and many top political figures have been dismissed, including two deputy prime ministers.

Mr Thuong is seen as being close to Vietnam’s most powerful figure, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who is the main architect of the anti-graft campaign.

In Vietnam, the president is among the top four political figures in the country, together with the party’s general secretary, the prime minister and the head of the National Assembly.

In January, then President Nguyen Xuan Phuc suddenly resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for “violations and wrongdoing” by officials under his control.

The current acting president is Ms Vo Thi Anh Xuan, who was deputy president when Mr Phuc resigned. REUTERS