How is the election of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee directly carried out at the Party Congress?

According to Instruction 26 - HD/BTCTW of the Central Organizing Committee on "Some contents of Directive No. 35-CT/TW of the Politburo on party congresses at all levels, towards the 13th National Congress of the Party", if the list of candidates for secretary and deputy secretary is not in accordance with the plan approved by the superior, the following steps shall be followed:

- Timely report to request instructions from the competent direct superior Party Committee;

- After receiving new instructions, continue with the election or stop the election at the congress to continue preparation.

As for the comrades who were expected to be nominated for the position of Chairman of the Inspection Committee but were not elected to the Party Committee, the new Party Committee must report and ask for instructions from the higher Party Committee to continue preparing. At that time, it may continue to introduce new personnel or temporarily suspend the election for this position.

Note: The pilot congresses directly electing Party secretaries at all levels (including at the grassroots level) shall follow the spirit of Instruction No. 34-HD/BTCTW, dated October 8, 2009 of the Central Organizing Committee. The Standing Committees of Party committees directly under the Central Committee shall, based on the specific situation and characteristics, determine the appropriate ratio to closely and effectively lead and direct this policy for the Party committees at the district and commune levels.

The election of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee directly at the congress was basically conducted according to Instruction 34-HD/BTCTW, dated October 8, 2009 of the Central Organizing Committee. Photo by Nguyen Son

Section 3.2 (Instruction No. 34-HD/BTCTW dated October 8, 2009 of the Central Organizing Committee) on "Procedure for direct congress election of Party Committee Secretary" is as follows:

(1) After the congress elects and announces the election results of the new Party Executive Committee, the congress presidium organizes to collect opinions (by ballot) from congress delegates to introduce the personnel for Party Committee Secretaries from among the comrades who have just been elected to the new Party Executive Committee.

(2) The congress's ballot counting committee collects ballots, counts ballots, and reports the results of the congress delegates' nomination ballots to the congress presidium and the new term Party Committee.

(3) The new Party Committee convenes a meeting (the convener of this meeting shall comply with Clause 1, Article 22 of the Party Election Regulations issued together with Decision No. 220-QD/TW dated April 17, 2009 of the 10th Politburo), receives opinions from the immediate superior Party Committee (opinions of the Standing Committee of the provincial Party Committee for the district Party Committee; opinions of the Politburo for the provincial Party Committee) on the personnel plan for the Party Committee Secretary; studies the list of cadres planned for the position of Secretary and the personnel plan for the new Party Committee Secretary of the Party Committee at the level that convenes the congress; results of the recommendation of the Secretary by the congress delegates; on that basis, discusses and recommends the Party Committee Secretary (by secret ballot). After that, the new Party Committee members return to the delegations to run for election and nominate the position of Party Committee Secretary at the delegation.

(4) Nominate candidates for the position of Party Secretary at the delegations in the following order:

- The representative of the new Party Committee informed the delegation of some contents for the delegates to refer to before running for and nominating the position of Party Committee Secretary, including: the opinion of the direct superior Party Committee on the personnel plan for the Party Committee Secretary; the results of the nomination of candidates for the position of Secretary by the delegates attending the congress; the personnel plan for the Party Committee Secretary introduced by the new Party Committee.

- Delegates in the delegation exchanged opinions, then ran for and nominated the position of Party Committee Secretary according to the ballot form issued by the congress presidium.

(5) The congress presidium compiles the list of candidates and nominations from the delegations; announces the results to the new term Party Committee.

(6) The Congress shall elect the Party Committee Secretary. Depending on each case, it shall be handled as follows:

- In case the list of candidates and nominations for the position of Party Secretary of the congress is consistent with the personnel plan approved by the immediate superior Party Committee; or in case the majority of delegates attending the congress (over 50% of the total number of delegates convened) nominate personnel different from the personnel plan approved by the immediate superior Party Committee but this personnel is in the planning for the position of Party Secretary of the new term, the congress will proceed to elect the Party Secretary, without having to report or ask for the opinion of the immediate superior Party Committee.

- In case the majority of delegates attending the congress (over 50% of the total number of delegates convened) nominate personnel different from the personnel plan approved by the immediate superior Party Committee, but this personnel is not included in the planning of the position of Party Secretary of the new term, the new Party Committee will meet to discuss, carefully consider and vote (by secret ballot) on the personnel recommended by the majority of congress delegates:

+ If the majority of the new Party Committee members (over 50% of the total number of new Party Committee members) agree with the personnel plan introduced by the majority of congress delegates, the congress will proceed with the election without having to ask for the opinion of the directly superior Party Committee.

+ If the majority of the new Party Committee members do not agree with the personnel plan introduced by the majority of the congress delegates, the new Party Committee must report to the direct superior Party Committee for guidance.

- If the congress elects the position of Party Committee Secretary for the first time and no one is elected, it is necessary to discuss carefully before the second election. If the second election still has no one elected, the congress will decide whether to continue the election or hand it over to the new Party Executive Committee to elect the Party Committee Secretary (according to the Party Charter and the Party Election Regulations).

- The list of candidates for Party Committee Secretaries may or may not have a balance.