Vietnam elects first female speaker

Thursday, March 31, 2016 6:54 am

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan: breaks gender barrier

National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam on Thursday elected Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan as the country’s first female house speaker in capital Hanoi.

Ngan was elected with 472 “yes” votes out of 481 valid ballots, at the ongoing 11th session of the 13th National Assembly.

Meanwhile, she was also elected as the Chairperson of the National Election Council with 467 “yes” votes out of 477 valid ballots.

Prior to the election, Ngan served as Vice Chairperson of the NA from July 2011.

Earlier on Wednesday, NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong delivered a proposal on the nomination of candidates for the position of NA head, of which the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPVCC) and CPVCC’s Politburo nominated Ngan as the sole nominee to the post.

On Wednesday, Nguyen Sinh Hung was relieved from duty of the NA Chairman and Chairman of the National Election Council.

In late January, Hung was not elected to be among 200 members of the new CPVCC.

At the second session of the 12th Central Committee of the CPV in early March, Vietnamese party chief Nguyen Phu Trong said the central committee reached consensus to re-arrange key leadership positions in order to promptly implement the resolution of the 12th national party congress.