What mechanism monitors promises?

Voters will be the ones to monitor, urge and remind the implementation of the promises of elected representatives. When elected representatives deviate from the action program and do not make efforts to implement their promises, voters have the right to question, remind and even dismiss them if they are no longer worthy of the people's trust.

As of today, the official list of candidates for the 14th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2016-2021 term has been announced. Candidates have about 3 weeks to conduct election campaigns according to regulations. The election campaign process is also the time when voters and candidates contact each other directly, through voter contact conferences, or indirectly, through the mass media.

The election campaign is a very important time for people to identify which candidates most accurately reflect their will and aspirations to register on the ballot. Through the action program and discussions and debates, voters will filter information, choose those who have enough virtue, talent and desire to contribute to the cause of the elected body, worthy of being their representatives, for them, for them.

What mechanism does the voter have to monitor and urge the elected representatives to fulfill their promises and implement their action programs? Speaking to the press, Director of the Institute for Legislative Studies Dinh Xuan Thao said that the law stipulates that at least once a year, the representative must report to the voters of the place where the representative is running for election on the results of his/her activities in that year. At that time, the voters will base on the promises and action programs that the representative promised during the election campaign to evaluate whether the representative's activities have met the requirements or not, whether the promises have been fulfilled or completed or not. In reality, besides the representatives who are active and effective, trusted and highly appreciated by voters, there are still elected representatives whose words are attractive when campaigning, but when elected, they are far from the voters and far from the action program. For example, at the National Assembly forum, besides a reformed National Assembly that operates more and more effectively and efficiently, voters still worry that there are still representatives who rarely speak during their entire term, cannot speak for the voters, or only speak to please or score points...

According to the law, National Assembly deputies meet with voters at least four times a year before and after the session. In addition, central deputies periodically meet with voters in their localities. National Assembly deputies, as well as elected representatives in general, must make public their phone numbers and emails so that voters can contact them at any time. Through these meetings with voters and these methods of connection, in addition to reflecting their thoughts and aspirations, voters can also monitor, check, and urge deputies to make efforts to fulfill their promises.

When promises cannot be fulfilled, or are only partially fulfilled, through these meetings, voters and representatives can dialogue to find out the objective reasons or subjective factors from the capacity and dedication of the representatives; voters can also offer initiatives, solutions, and suggestions to help representatives fulfill their promises.

The mechanism for monitoring people's power has been and is continuing to be perfected. In the upcoming program, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee will issue a special monitoring program on election work. This includes recording the promises of candidates participating in the election. When the elected candidate becomes an elected representative, the Vietnam Fatherland Front will base on that promise and action program to examine, remind, and monitor the representative throughout the process of activities, through meetings and contacts with voters. Thus, if voters forget, there will be an additional channel to monitor and remind the representative to fulfill the promise from the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

The National Election Council also stipulates that candidates for re-election will return to their old locality for re-election. With this provision, voters can evaluate the level of fulfillment of promises and action programs made to voters by the representative during the previous term to choose whether to trust and elect him or her as a representative again. Obviously, this is a very effective monitoring mechanism, when the right to decide whether an individual continues to be a representative of the people is decided by the people's votes, then that representative will have to make real efforts and strive throughout the entire term if he or she wants to continue to be associated with the career of the elected body. Not to mention, according to the provisions of the law, when a representative does not fulfill his or her promises and is not worthy of being a representative, voters can revoke his or her status as a representative.

Thus, the mechanism for supervising elected representatives in general, including supervising the promises of representatives, has existed and continues to be improved. However, for this mechanism to be fully and substantially implemented in practice, it requires the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the attention of the voters themselves. There will not be many enthusiastic representatives when voters are still indifferent. Along with that, the Vietnam Fatherland Front needs to continue to innovate so that voter contact activities are more substantial, with the participation of more voters. Because there are still places and times when voter contact activities are still formal, lacking voters.

From now until 7am on May 21, 2016, there will be many promises made through election campaigns. Each promise is both a goal to strive for and a motivation and responsibility for action for each candidate. Life is always far from wishes and aspirations; promises are synonymous with commitments to resolve existing problems. Voters do not want to hear empty promises like romantic, impossible literature. What voters want is a promise with the power of reality.

According to People's Representative