National Assembly Delegate Thai Thi An Chung gives comments on the organization of the new commune-level government apparatus.

On the morning of May 14, the National Assembly discussed the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended). Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An province, talked with reporters of Nghe An Newspaper on the sidelines of the session about this very important law.

Proposal to decentralize the authority to name and rename commune-level administrative units to the Provincial People's Council

The delegate from Nghe An highly appreciated the urgent but also thoughtful preparation of the Government and the Ministry of Home Affairs in promptly institutionalizing the policies and conclusions of the Party Central Committee on organizing a two-level local government model.

Delegates expressed their high agreement with the contents of the draft, especially the regulations on the tasks, powers and responsibilities of provincial and commune-level authorities after the termination of district-level authorities.

Promoting decentralization and delegation of power from the Central Government to local governments and between local governments as shown in the draft law, according to delegate Thai Thi An Chung, is extremely necessary to promote the initiative and creativity of local governments at all levels, in order to unleash resources for local development, contributing to the common development of the country in the new era.

From the practice of consulting local people in the past on the plan to rearrange communes, especially the naming of administrative units after the rearrangement as the name of the district-level administrative unit (before the rearrangement) with an ordinal number attached or a new meaningful name, delegate Thai Thi An Chung proposed that the National Assembly study the decentralization of the authority to name and rename commune-level administrative units from the National Assembly Standing Committee to the Provincial People's Council.

This amendment is not unconstitutional because Article 74, Clause 8 of the current Constitution only stipulates the authority of the National Assembly Standing Committee to "decide on the establishment, dissolution, merger, division, and adjustment of boundaries of administrative units below provinces and centrally run cities", without providing for naming or renaming.

In practice, in the past, when implementing the arrangement of commune-level administrative units, the issue that voters and public opinion were most concerned about was still choosing the name of the administrative unit after the merger. Due to the urgent implementation time, in many places, the naming of the new administrative unit was still temporary, while the name of the administrative unit has a very important meaning, not only to distinguish this administrative unit from other administrative units but also to be a matter of history, culture, tradition...

"This amendment is also compatible with the policy of decentralizing the authority to "decide on the establishment, organization, reorganization, dissolution, naming, and renaming of villages and residential groups in the area" from the current provincial People's Council to the commune-level People's Council as the draft law is currently proposing," said the Deputy Head of the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation.

Should maintain the Legal Committee of the People's Council at the commune level

Regarding the regulations on the organization of local governments, delegate Thai Thi An Chung expressed her agreement with the contents of the draft law. The regulation that local governments at provincial and communal levels have People's Councils and People's Committees ensures that the State apparatus is organized in a unified manner and operates smoothly from the central level to the provincial and grassroots levels.

The organizational structure of the People's Council at the commune level has 2 committees: the Economic - Social Committee and the Legal Committee, which is extremely necessary. Regarding the proposal not to organize the Legal Committee at the commune level and the Government's plan to revise the draft Law in the direction that the People's Council at the commune level has 2 committees: the Economic - Budget Committee and the Cultural - Social Committee, according to the delegates, it is necessary to study carefully, because:

From the Law on Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees in 2003 to the Law on Organization of Local Government in 2015 (amended and supplemented in 2019), the establishment of the Legal Committee at the People's Councils at 3 levels (province, district, commune; in which the district and commune levels have the Economic - Social Committee and the Legal Committee) has been maintained and promoted effectively.

The Legal Committee of the People's Council at all levels is responsible for supervising and examining the implementation of the Constitution and laws, national defense, security, order, social safety, building local governments and managing local administrative boundaries.

It can be seen that the Legal field has a special nature different from other fields, with high legal expertise and requires people with expertise and knowledge of the legal field to perform this work. The organization of the Legal Committee at the People's Council at the commune level in recent times has shown the focus on monitoring the implementation of the law at the grassroots level, contributing significantly to ensuring the implementation of the law at the grassroots level.

In the current stage, when implementing the 2-level local government model, the inevitable requirement for the local government at the grassroots level is that it must be closer to the people, closer to the people, and be the place to directly implement legal policies to the people. Monitoring and ensuring law enforcement at the grassroots level, ensuring human rights and civil rights is a particularly important requirement.

The 2013 Constitution stipulates that our State is: “A socialist rule of law state of the people, by the people, for the people”. Therefore, all government activities must comply with the law.

“That places increasing demands on the activities of the Legal Committee of the People’s Council at the commune level - in areas of special nature such as monitoring and supervising the work of receiving citizens, handling complaints and denunciations, monitoring and handling administrative violations, organizing the apparatus, staffing, administrative reform, national defense, security, etc. at the grassroots level. Therefore, if the Legal Committee of the People’s Council at the commune level is not organized, it will create a gap in monitoring law enforcement in this area,” the delegate of Nghe An delegation analyzed.

In addition, according to Ms. Thai Thi An Chung, the Politburo recently issued Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW dated April 30, 2025 on innovation in law-making and enforcement to meet the requirements of national development in the new era, which sets out the requirement: "Create breakthroughs in law enforcement, ensure that laws are implemented fairly, strictly, consistently, promptly, effectively and efficiently". That requires that the activities of the Legal Committee of the People's Council at the grassroots level need to be strengthened and focused on.

Along with that, the People's Council and People's Committee at the commune level will be decentralized to manage the organization, staffing and government construction, and the authority to issue legal documents will be added to the commune-level government, so the role of the Legal Department in examining and monitoring legal documents at the commune level will become even more important.

From the 3 reasons analyzed above, delegate Thai Thi An Chung said that we should continue to organize 2 Committees at the People's Council at the commune level as at present, namely the Economic - Social Committee and the Legal Committee. The delegate also agreed with the arrangement of full-time delegates at the Committees of the People's Council at the commune level to ensure the effectiveness of the People's Council at the commune level.