Following the death of President Tran Dai Quang due to a rare undisclosed virus, Vietnam government has appointed a new person to sit in the position as the acting president until the National Assembly elects a new leader, according to a statement on the government website as cited by South China Morning Post.
The person is Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, who has been vice-president since April 2016 and also the parliament chairwoman. She was born in 1959 and holds a bachelor of law and a masters degree in party building, according to state media reports. While this means Vietnam will have their first female president, activists are unimpressed.
"I think while Ngoc Thinh's appointment is symbolically important, its wider significance is limited to some women who are Communist Party members," said activist and dissident Do Nguyen Mai Khoi in an email.
“The appointment of a woman as Vietnam’s president may be historic, but it has more to do with internal party politics than gender,” said Andrea Giorgetta, Asia director for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.
“The reality is that the number of women in decision-making positions at all political levels in Vietnam remains low and reflects firmly-rooted gender stereotypes about the role women in the country’s society,” Giorgetta told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
On the other side, Vietnam will hold a two-day national mourning period September 26-27 in honour of late President Quang, who will be buried in his home village in northern Ninh Binh province on Thursday.
Source: Reuters, SCMP