The National Assembly of Vietnam elected the member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party Party of Vietnam and Minister of Public Security, Army General To Lam, for the new president of the country, TASS reported.
According to the control committee of the parliament, the decision to elect the 66-year-old To Lam as head of state was supported by 472 of the 473 deputies present at the meeting from the National Assembly, which, according to the constitution of Vietnam, is the highest body, charged with the power to appoint and dismiss the leadership of the parties.
To Lam was born on July 10, 1957 in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen. In 1974, he joined the state security authorities. After graduating from the Central Public Security School (now the People's Security Academy) in 1979, To Lam began his career at the First Political Security Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Over the years, he has held various management positions in the structure of the state security authorities. In 2009, with the rank of major general, he was appointed as the head of the First Main Directorate for Security of the Ministry of Public Security.
In August 2010, To Lam became the Deputy Minister of Public Security, and in April 2016 he assumed the post of Minister. In early 2019, To Lam received the rank of Army General, becoming the fourth person in the history of Vietnam's state security agencies to hold this highest military rank. Tho Lam is also the vice-chairman of the Central Anti-Corruption Committee headed by CPV Central Committee Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong.
At the 9th Plenum of the 13th CPC Central Committee held in Hanoi last week, the ruling party recommended To Lam's candidacy for the post of the country's president. The chair of the head of state remained vacant after Vo Van Tuong, who occupied it, resigned in March from the posts of President of Vietnam, Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council, Politburo member of the CPC Central Committee and member of the 13th Central Committee of the CPV.