Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong resigned after a little over a year in office, the Communist Party said Wednesday, making him the latest senior official to leave office amid an intense anti-corruption campaign.
The party’s Central Committee approved his resignation, writing in a statement that “violations by Vo Van Thuong have left a bad mark on the reputation of the Communist party.”
Thuong, 53, became president in March 2023, two months after his predecessor Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned to take “political responsibility” for corruption scandals during the pandemic. He was the youngest president since modern day Vietnam emerged from war in the mid-1970s.
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The position of president in Vietnam is largely ceremonial and ranks third in the country’s political hierarchy.
The government statement did not elaborate on Thuong’s shortcomings, but major leadership changes in the one-party state have recently been all linked to the wide-ranging “blazing furnace” anti-bribery campaign.
It is aimed at stamping out widespread corruption but is also suspected by critics to be a tool for political infighting.
Foreign investors and diplomats have repeatedly blamed the campaign for slowing down decisions in a country which is already grappling with cumbersome bureaucracy.
