Vietnam holds polls amid rapidly spreading Covid-19 outbreak

HANOI • Mask-wearing Vietnamese went to the polls yesterday, with tens of millions expected to select a largely rubber-stamp legislature amid a rapidly spreading Covid-19 outbreak.

Fewer independent candidates than before are standing in the election for the 500-seat National Assembly, which is held every five years and usually after the ruling Communist Party holds its congress to select a new leadership.

Despite increasing openness to social change in the country and a plethora of free trade deals, the party - one of the world's last ruling communist parties - retains tight control over Vietnam and its media, and tolerates little dissent.

The nearly 69.2 million registered voters will also vote for members of the people's councils at provincial and district levels.

"I hope all voters, knowing their role as the owners of the country, will join the vote to select the most trusted and worthy candidates to represent their voices," National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said ahead of the election.

Some 92 per cent of candidates for the National Assembly are members of the Communist Party, which also essentially vets independent candidates.

The number of candidates who are not party members fell this year to 74 from the 97 in the 2016 elections. Local media say the number of assembly deputies who are not party members has halved over the last three elections.

Official data shows 99 per cent of Vietnam's 67.5 million registered voters participated in the 2016 elections. The ballot is anonymous, but each voter's name, age, occupation, ethnicity and address are posted outside polling centres.

The election is taking place as Vietnam battles a new Covid-19 outbreak that is spreading rapidly, infecting 2,066 since it emerged late last month.

In Hanoi's Long Bien district, about 30 masked voters were seen queueing by a voting booth waiting for their turn. Before queueing, the voters had their temperatures taken at a nearby table where free masks and sanitiser were offered, with a loudspeaker urging people to keep a safe distance.

"I voted today because its my responsibility to do so," said an elderly voter who asked not to be named.

Mr Hue said yesterday's vote was the first "amid the most dangerous coronavirus outbreak that has spread to nearly half of the number of provinces, with many of them under lockdown". He said election organisers have taken measures to ensure balloting would take place safely.

Election results are typically announced after about two weeks.

REUTERS