Vietnam's To Lam consolidates power with presidential perch

In less than two years as party leader, the 68-year-old has ousted rivals and transformed the country through an assertive reform programme — literally redrawing the map by merging provinces and reducing bureaucracy. Lam has set an ambitious aim of 10 per cent annual growth for the Southeast Asian manufacturing centre, and has rallied the party behind his vision for development-focused reform.

Dual leadership mirrors China

After securing another term as the party's general secretary in January, Lam has now assumed the second-highest position in Vietnamese politics -- unifying the leadership of the party and the state, similar to how President Xi Jinping did in neighbouring China.

Tran Thanh Man, chairman of the National Assembly, stated that 100 percent of the deputies present approved the resolution to elect Lam as president for the 2026-2031 term. In a speech after being sworn in, Lam described his new dual role as a "huge honour" and a "sacred and noble duty".

The parliament, mainly tasked with ratifying party decisions, also elected Lam's ally Le Minh Hung as prime minister on Tuesday.

Major structural changes

Elevated to party chief after general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's death in 2024, Lam has shocked the country with the rapid pace of his reforms. He has removed entire layers of government, abolished eight ministries or agencies, and cut nearly 150,000 jobs from the state payroll, while pushing forward massive infrastructure projects.

Lam is now promoting a "new growth model" that accelerates decision-making and mobilises the private sector to reach double-digit annual growth over the next five years.

Economic resilience and challenges

Vietnam is both a repressive one-party state and a regional economic bright spot, where the Communist Party has aimed to deliver rapid growth to bolster its legitimacy. The country of 100 million people proved surprisingly resilient in the face of 20 percent tariffs imposed by US leader Donald Trump last year, clocking eight percent growth in 2025, among the fastest in Asia.

But the balancing act between the United States -- its main export market -- and its largest supplier China remains precarious, especially as the Trump administration seeks to prevent what it considers the illegal transshipment of Chinese goods via Vietnam.