Politics of Vietnam

The politics of Vietnam is dominated by a single party, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), under a communist state system. The President of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch nước) is the nominal head of state, and the Prime Minister of Vietnam is the head of government. Both of these offices are often separate from the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who leads the CPV and is head of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission. The General Secretary is thus the highest position in Vietnamese politics.

The Vietnamese constitution and legislation provides for regular elections for the office of the President of the Socialist Republic, the National Assembly and the People's Councils. In practice, there are no freely elected national leaders, and the CPV suppresses political opposition, controls all religious activity, prohibits dissent, and curtails civil rights. Elections in Vietnam occur under a single-party authoritarian political system. Vietnam is among the few contemporary party-led dictatorships to not hold any direct multiparty elections at the national level. The competitive nature of the elections is highly constrained by the Communist Party's monopoly on power in Vietnam, limitations on free speech, and government interference with the elections.

The National Assembly is a rubber stamp unicameral legislative body, although many scholars argue it has asserted more authority in recent decades. It consists of 500 members, indirectly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Through this legislature, the party enacts and amends the constitution and laws, such as the current Constitution of Vietnam. This document, the country's fifth, was adopted on 28 November 2013 and amended in 2025. The assembly also adopts the government budget, supervises the government of Vietnam and other public officials, and appoints members of the judiciary.

Public officials supervised by the National Assembly include those holding executive power. The government (Chính phủ), the main executive state power of Vietnam, is headed by the Prime Minister, who has several Deputy Prime Ministers and ministers in charge of particular ministries that implement political, economic, cultural, and social public policies. The executive branch is also responsible for national defence, security and external activities of the state through a President elected by National Assembly for a five-year term. They act as the de jure commander-in-chief of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council because the de facto commander-in-chief is the Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Vietnam has a judicial system whose members are appointed by the CPV-controlled National Assembly. The Supreme People's Court (Tòa án Nhân dân Tối cao) is the highest court of appeal in Vietnam. There are other specialised courts in Vietnam, including the Central Military Court, the Criminal Court, the Civil Court, the Appeal Court, and the Supreme People's Procuracy.