General Structure of Government

The main part of Vietnamese government, and the group of people that holds the most power in the country, is the National Assembly. Most of the members are part of the Communist Party of Vietnam, although some of them are independent.

Existing within the National Assembly is a group of the communist party's leaders, called the Politburo. This group is similar to the Canadian cabinet. The people belonging to the Politburo are shown below.

















In addition to the rest of the National Assembly, these is a President, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Ministers. These positions are explained more fully under the subtitle, "Positions of Power", which can be found on the second page of this chapter.

In addition to (but not separate from) the National Assembly, Vietnam has a Supreme People's Court. When compared to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme People's Court does not have as much power and is more closely connected to the National Assembly than Canada's Supreme Court is to Parliament. The Supreme People's Court is made up of a Chief Judge, Deputy Chief Judge, jurors, and court secretaries. These people are appointed by either the National Assembly as a whole or by the President. Therefore, the National Assembly holds power over the Supreme People's Court.