Politics Hardliner To Lam remains the most powerful man in Vietnam
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), To Lam, will remain in office for the next five years. The 68-year-old was re-elected by the members at the end of the CPV party congress in the capital Hanoi, which lasted several days.
23.01.2026, 09:58
SDA
This was revealed in an official announcement. The post is regarded as the most powerful office in the one-party state - and To Lam as a hardliner. The party congress, which only takes place every five years, is the most important political event in the up-and-coming emerging country, one of Germany's most important trading partners in South East Asia.
Concentration of power like in China soon?
For decades, Vietnam has been officially led by four pillars: the General Secretary, the President, the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the National Assembly. However, there is speculation that To Lam, who has been General Secretary since 2024, could also take over the office of President in the coming months and combine both functions. Such a move would be reminiscent of the Chinese leadership model, in which party leader and President Xi Jinping holds both key positions.
Involvement in the Tiergarten kidnapping
To Lam was Minister of Public Security from 2016 to 2024. One year after he took office as minister, a Vietnamese ex-manager was kidnapped from the Berlin Tiergarten and abducted to his home country. In Vietnam, Trinh Xuan Thanh, who had applied for political asylum in Germany, was sentenced twice to life imprisonment on corruption charges. According to a ruling by the Berlin Court of Appeal, To Lam is said to have ordered the kidnapping. The incident strained relations between the two countries. Relations have since stabilized.
However, there is still much criticism of the human rights situation: the process for electing the country's leadership is "undemocratic and non-transparent", the organization "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) recently declared. In addition, numerous prominent dissidents were arrested in the run-up to the party congress, including the well-known blogger and activist Hoang Thi Hong Thai.
