January 10, 2011
Vietnam’s Communist Party on Monday ruled out abandoning the one-party state, as it gears up for a key five-yearly congress this week.
“Vietnam has no demand (for) — and is determined not to have — pluralism or a multiparty system,” Dinh The Huynh, a member of the communists’ elite Central Committee, said at a press conference.
Publicly advocating a multiparty system can bring a jail sentence in Vietnam, but Western countries have said greater freedom of expression and human rights could help the country’s growth. Huynh said Vietnam had a multiparty system for its first elections in 1946.
“But when the French invaded the country, only the Communist Party of Vietnam together with the people fought,” he said.
“And now the Communist Party of Vietnam is still leading our people to continue winning victories in national construction and defence.”
State radio on Monday morning broadcast a report lasting several minutes that argued against a multiparty system.
Some Vietnamese voice concern about instability if an alternative system were implemented.
But analysts say that while the government is not elected, it does seem to enjoy support among Vietnamese based on the country’s economic growth and resulting improvement in people’s lives.
Founding president Ho Chi Minh and the country’s long history of resistance to foreign aggression have also contributed to acceptance of the party’s primacy, they add.
While ruling out wider political participation for the general public, the Communist Party has been experimenting with wider voting rights for its local representatives to choose their leaders.
Observers said late last year that a fresh crackdown was under way against bloggers and activists ahead of the Congress, which starts on Wednesday.
“The Communist Party is committed to maintaining the status quo,” Viet Tan, the Vietnam Reform Party based in the United States, said in a statement on Monday.
“But Vietnam is changing despite what happens at the party Congress. This change is the result of the Internet creating a de facto free media and civil society.”
Viet Tan describes itself as non-violent and pro-democracy, but Vietnam labels it a “terrorist organisation”.
