HCMC – Pham Minh Chinh, head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Organization, has been elected and sworn in as Vietnam's new prime minister, replacing Nguyen Xuan Phuc who is now the nation's new State president.

The National Assembly (NA) today, April 5, held a secret ballot to vote for the new prime minister, the local media reported.

Chinh secured 462 votes from 466 NA deputies casting the secret ballot, or 96.25%. He is the first head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Organization to become the head of Government.

After the NA approved a resolution on his election, Chinh was sworn in before the NA and pledged loyalty to the fatherland, the people and the Constitution. He said he would strive to fulfill his duties assigned by the Party, the State and the people.

This morning, Chinh’s predecessor, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc introduced Chinh as a candidate for the post of prime minister.

Chinh, 63, Associate Professor and Doctor in Law, is a native of Thanh Hoa Province.

In 2010, he was appointed as head of the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department of Logistics and Technology.

He held the post of Deputy Minister of Public Security from August 2010 to August 2011, when the Politburo picked him as secretary of the Quang Ninh Party Committee.

In April 2015, the Politburo appointed him to the post of deputy head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Organization before he was elected to the Politburo in January 2016 and served as head of the Commission for Organization.

At the 13th National Party Congress in January 2021, he was reelected to the 13th Party Central Committee and the Politburo.