On the morning of January 6, 1946, people across the country woke up early, dressed neatly, held their ballots in their hands, and exercised their rights as citizens of a free and independent country.
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| As soon as the country gained independence, President Ho Chi Minh proposed to hold a general election as soon as possible to elect a National Assembly. The election was conducted by Vietnamese citizens aged 18 and over, regardless of wealth, religion, or political party. Initially, the general election was scheduled for December 23, 1945, then postponed to January 6, 1946. In the photo, Hanoi people welcome President Ho Chi Minh and the candidates nominated for National Assembly deputies in Hanoi on January 5, 1946. Before the election day, voters asked President Ho Chi Minh to be exempted from candidacy and elected as President forever, but President Ho refused and wanted to fulfill his duty as a citizen of an independent country by voting. |
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| Decrees regulating the election method and the time of the general election were issued by the Government. Each voter had to go to the polls in person, without proxy, nor by mail. President Ho issued an appeal published in the National Assembly newspaper - the newspaper that was born and operated during the first general election. Preparations for the election were rushed from the central to local levels. The newspapers Cuu Quoc and Quoc Hoi continuously reported on the general election, the list, and comments on the candidates. At the local level, election committees were established in each village and commune. |
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| On the morning of January 6, 1946, the election atmosphere permeated every street corner, appearing on everyone's face. People stopped selling goods or going to the market. Adults got up to prepare to do their civic duties, children went to promote the general election. Children on Mai Hac De Street (Hanoi) promoted on the first election day of the country. |
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| Working people in the capital also joined in the election day atmosphere, hanging red flags with yellow stars and banners. |
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| At the polling stations, the people who collected ballots, wrote ballots, and counted ballots stood waiting for voters to arrive. To sabotage the election, the Kuomintang and its henchmen sent men with submachine guns to Ngu Xa village (Hanoi) to prevent ballot boxes from being placed, forbid people from hanging flags, and collect voter cards. People flocked to nearby Nguyen Thai Hoc street to vote. |
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| Young people, nannies, drivers, rickshaw pullers, old men, old women... all took to the streets to vote. Literate people wrote their names on the ballots. For those who were illiterate, the General Election Decree stipulated that before voting began, a subcommittee of three people, one from the election committee and two from the locality, would be set up to help voters. One person would write, two would check. After writing, they had to swear to write correctly and keep it secret in front of the voters. |
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| Nearly 190,000 voters in Hanoi elected six National Assembly deputies to represent the capital. The deputies introduced themselves after the election day, including: Ho Chi Minh, Hoang Van Duc, Vu Dinh Hoe, Tran Duy Hung, Nguyen Van Luyen, and Nguyen Thi Thuc Vien. "In the struggle for complete independence, we swear to go first," said President Ho Chi Minh. |
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| People of Quang Ngai town exercised their civil rights on election day. This time, voters here elected 8 people to become deputies to the first National Assembly. |
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| Because the order to postpone the general election did not arrive in time, the people of Saigon and some localities in the South still voted for the first National Assembly on December 23, 1945, as planned. The French sent planes to bomb and their henchmen to sweep the election. The people of the South went to vote amidst the smoke, fire, guns and bullets of war, and threats from the enemy. The ballots were soaked in blood when more than 40 officials in the election propaganda department were sacrificed. Many revolutionary officials and people sympathetic to the Government were kidnapped and murdered by the enemy before the election day. |
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| After the general election, the people elected 333 National Assembly deputies from thousands of candidates and nominees. Of these, the North had 152 representatives, the Central had 108, and the South had 73 representatives. Notably, there were 10 female deputies. |
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| The first session of the 1st National Assembly took place on March 2, 1946 at the Opera House (Hanoi). In the memory of the excellent physician Pho Duc Thao, former Secretary of the 1st National Assembly in 1946, that session had nearly 300 delegates filling all the rows of seats. The first two rows of seats, on the right side (looking down from the stage) were reserved for Viet Quoc delegates. These delegates all wore red ties. The two rows of seats on the left were reserved for Viet Cach delegates. These two groups of delegates did not have to go through a national election. The red carpet was spread along the middle of the hall from the entrance to the stage, simple but solemn. Journalists, reporters, photographers... moved quietly and orderly. Foreign delegates as observers sat on the balcony on the first floor, looking straight at the stage. |
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| In the hall, the red flag with a yellow star hung on the stage wall, the edges of the star were still rounded, not straight like today's flag. Three rows of rattan chairs were placed diagonally from the left corner to the right. The session lasted for 4 hours, the National Assembly listened to the Government report on the situation, and established a coalition government to fight the resistance to replace the provisional government. The new government held an introduction ceremony and took an oath before the National Assembly. "We promise each other that the National Assembly meeting this time is the National Assembly of resistance and the Government elected is the Government of resistance. I hope that the next National Assembly meeting will be a victorious National Assembly and the Government will be a victorious Government", the National Assembly delegate carrying card number 305 Ho Chi Minh read at the closing ceremony of the first session. |
According to VNE
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