Against "opportunism" and "taking advantage" of votes before merging district and commune levels

This regulation aims to avoid cases of "taking advantage" of the election, appointment of officials, recruitment of civil servants and public employees at district and commune-level administrative units that are preparing for reorganization, causing more difficulties for placement in new units.This is one of the important contents of the Resolution on the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels in the 2019-2021 period, recently approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Very important work

According to Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan, the arrangement of administrative units is a very important task, related to and directly affecting political and social stability, national defense, security, socio-economic development and especially the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the team of cadres, civil servants and public employees in localities, so this arrangement also has a step-by-step roadmap.

The arrangement of administrative units stipulated in the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee includes cases of establishment, merger, dissolution, and adjustment of administrative boundaries of districts, towns, provincial cities (district level), communes, wards, and towns (commune level). In addition to the regulation that administrative units must be arranged when their natural area and population size do not reach 50% of the prescribed standards, the arrangement of the remaining administrative units is also encouraged to reduce the number of administrative units.

According to Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu, there are currently 16 districts and 631 wards and communes that have not met 50% of the standards on natural area and population that need to be rearranged. However, the spirit of the Politburo is that the rearrangement must consider and calculate specific factors of history, culture, customs and practices, requirements to ensure national defense, security, socio-economics, etc.

Therefore, agencies must have specific plans for competent authorities to decide on implementation, and first of all, the provincial People's Committee organizes the development of a project to report to the Government and submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision.

Resolution 37 of the Politburo clearly states the roadmap and requirements for 2019 to basically streamline district and commune-level administrative units that have not met 50% of the standards on natural area and population size. From 2021-2030, the remaining units that lack one criterion will be rearranged. This resolution only focuses on solving the problem of 2019, that is, rearranging administrative units that do not meet both criteria. That means that the project development must be implemented by localities soon, along with propaganda and ideological work.

Temporarily stop electing leaders, gradually reduce redundant deputies

Leaders of Thanh Chuong district and town (Nghe An) polled people's opinions regarding the merger of commune-level administrative units and blocks and hamlets. Photo: Mai Hoa (Nghe An Newspaper)

The Resolution stipulates a temporary suspension of the election and appointment of leadership and management positions and the recruitment and acceptance of cadres, civil servants and public employees at agencies and units where the 2019-2021 arrangement will be carried out, except in cases where there is a vacancy in the head and no person in charge can be arranged, in which case the position will be elected and appointed.

“No later than 60 days after the resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on merging and adjusting administrative unit boundaries to implement district and commune level arrangements comes into effect, localities must complete the arrangement and consolidation of the organizational apparatus of agencies and units of the new administrative units,” emphasized Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan.

When merging, the household registration only needs to be adjusted if the address changes, while some documents such as ID card, citizen identification card, and land book do not need to be changed, unless the citizen wishes to do so. Updating and changing are free of charge.

Along with that, the arrangement, merger, and consolidation of the organizational apparatus of agencies, organizations, and units when arranging administrative units must ensure streamlining, and no additional focal points must be added. The Resolution requires that when arranging administrative units at the district and commune levels, the leadership team and the number of civil servants and public employees must be arranged and assigned to ensure the correct number according to regulations. In case the arrangement and resolution have not been achieved, the number must not exceed the total number before the merger.

“The regime and policies are flexible but also principled. Flexibility means that when merging, the number of deputies and civil servants may be more than the current standard regulations, so there is a roadmap for gradual reduction,” emphasized Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu. And no later than 5 years after the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee takes effect, the number of cadres, civil servants and public employees of the newly regulated agencies and units must be ensured to comply with regulations.

In addition, the Resolution also stipulates the application of regimes and policies to resolve redundancy according to current regulations of the Government; at the same time, it agrees to assign the People's Council and People's Committee at the provincial level to develop and promulgate a number of additional support mechanisms and policies to encourage redundant cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers to apply for leave.

A noteworthy point is that the arrangement is not only related to the organization and staffing in state agencies but also includes the organization and staffing in Party and mass organizations. These contents are not within the scope of regulation in the resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Therefore, the National Assembly Party Delegation or the National Assembly Standing Committee will have a document requesting relevant agencies and organizations, according to their authority, to be responsible for guiding and directing the arrangement and settlement of regimes and policies to ensure timeliness, synchronization and unity.