General Secretary of the Communist Party

The title of General Secretary or First Secretary is commonly used for the leaders of most communist parties. When a communist party is the ruling party of a socialist state—often labeled as communist states by external observers—the general secretary is typically the country's de facto leader. Except in Vietnam, it is not uncommon for this leader to also assume state-level positions, such as president or premiership, thereby also becoming the de jure leader of the state. The position of general secretary is typically elected by the communist party's central committee (with the Workers' Party of Korea as an exception), and the holder of this title also serves on the communist party's politburo and secretariat.

General secretaries of ruling communist parties

Leaders of current ruling communist parties

Party		Title	Officeholder		Took office	Length of tenure	Ref.
	Chinese Communist Party	General Secretary of the Central Committee	Xi Jinping		15 November 2012	12 years, 179 days	[1]
	Communist Party of Cuba	First Secretary of the Central Committee	Miguel Díaz-Canel		19 April 2021	4 years, 24 days	[2]
	Communist Party of Vietnam	General Secretary of the Central Committee	Tô Lâm		3 August 2024	283 days	[3]
	Lao People's Revolutionary Party	General Secretary of the Central Committee	Thongloun Sisoulith		15 January 2021	4 years, 118 days	[4]
	Workers' Party of Korea	General Secretary	Kim Jong-un		11 April 2012	13 years, 32 days	[5]

See also

• Central Committee
• Politburo
• Secretariat