General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), known as First Secretary (Vietnamese: Bí thư Thứ nhất) from 1951 to 1976, is the highest office within the Communist Party of Vietnam.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Symbol of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Incumbent Tô Lâm Acting since 19 July 2024
Style	Comrade (Đồng chí) (Formal)
Type	Party leader
Status	1st in Politburo and Secretariat
Member of	Central Committee Political Bureau Central Military Commission Secretariat
Appointer	Central Committee
Term length	Five years renewable once
Precursor	First Secretary
Inaugural holder	Trần Phú
Formation	27 October 1930

Officeholders

General Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party Central Committee Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Đông Dương
No. [note 1]	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Took office	Left office	Rank [note 2]	Central Committee
1		Trần Phú (1904–1931)	27 October 1930	6 September 1931†	1	Provisional Central Committee (1930–35)
2		Lê Hồng Phong (1902–1942)	27 October 1931	26 July 1936	1	1st Central Committee (1935–45)
3		Hà Huy Tập (1906–1941)	26 July 1936	30 March 1938	1
4		Nguyễn Văn Cừ (1912–1941)	30 March 1938	9 November 1940	1
5		Trường Chinh (1907–1988)	9 November 1940	11 November 1945	1 [note 3]	1st Central Committee (1935–45)
First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Central Committee Bí thư Thứ nhất Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Lao động Việt Nam
No. [note 1]	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Took office	Left office	Rank	Central Committee
5		Trường Chinh (1907–1988)	19 February 1951	5 October 1956	2	2nd Central Committee (1951–60)
6		Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969)	5 October 1956	10 September 1960	1	2nd Central Committee (1951–60)
						3rd Central Committee (1960–76)
7		Lê Duẩn (1907–1986)	10 September 1960	20 December 1976	2 [note 4]
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam
7		Lê Duẩn (1907–1986)	20 December 1976	10 July 1986†	1	4th Central Committee (1976–82)
						5th Central Committee (1982–86)
5		Trường Chinh (1907–1988)	14 July 1986	18 December 1986	1	5th Central Committee (1982–86)
8		Nguyễn Văn Linh (1915–1998)	18 December 1986	28 June 1991	1	6th Central Committee (1986–91)
9		Đỗ Mười (1917–2018)	28 June 1991	26 December 1997	1	7th Central Committee (1991–96)
						8th Central Committee (1996–2001)
10		Colonel general Lê Khả Phiêu (1931–2020)[note 5]	26 December 1997	22 April 2001	1
11		Nông Đức Mạnh (1940–)[note 6]	22 April 2001	19 January 2011	1	9th Central Committee (2001–06)
						10th Central Committee (2006–11)
12		Nguyễn Phú Trọng (1944–2024)	19 January 2011	19 July 2024†	1	11th Central Committee (2011–16)
						12th Central Committee (2016–21)
						13th Central Committee (2021–26)

Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam Central Committee Chủ tịch Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Lao động Việt Nam
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Took office	Left office	Rank	Central Committee
*		Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969)	19 February 1951	2 September 1969	1	2nd Central Committee (1951–60) 3rd Central Committee (1960–76)

Notes

1. These numbers are not official.
2. The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo.^[1] According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes given by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked at the bottom because he received the lowest number of approval votes. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.^[2] Before the 10th Party Congress Politburo rankings functioned as the official order of precedence, but it no longer does (however, there are some who disagree with this view).^[1]
3. He was ranked No. 1 until the 1945 August Revolution led by Hồ Chí Minh.
4. He was ranked second until the death of Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV chairman, on 2 September 1969.^[3]
5. He is confirmed to have died on 7 August 2020
6. He is currently the only living former general secretary

References

1. Van & Cooper 1983, p. 69. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVanCooper1983 (help)
2. Koh 2008, p. 666. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKoh2008 (help)
3. Brocheux 2007, p. 174. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBrocheux2007 (help)