Prime Minister of Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh, who also served as the country's president, was appointed Vietnam's first prime minister in 1946 by the National Assembly, after having served months as the acting chairman of the Provisional Government and foreign minister in the aftermath of the 1945 August Revolution. The 1946 and 1959 constitutions state that the National Assembly had the power to appoint and relieve the prime minister of their duties. The prime minister presided over the Council of Ministers, the highest executive body of state, from 1981 until it was renamed to Government in the 1992 constitution. The office of prime minister was renamed in the 1980 constitution to that of Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Phạm Văn Đồng, served as North Vietnamese prime minister from 1955 until 1976, when he became prime minister of a unified Vietnam, and then until 1987, when he resigned. At his resignation, he was the longest-serving prime minister in Vietnamese history, and the oldest serving prime minister in the world. He sometimes lamented that he was one of the world's weakest prime ministers, on one occasion saying; "I can do nothing. When I say something, nobody listens. If I propose changing a deputy minister, it turns out to be impossible. I cannot even choose my own ministers." Since the death of Phạm Hùng in 1988, the prime minister has been ranked third in the order of precedence of the Communist Party's Politburo. ==Duties, powers and responsibilities==

The National Assembly by a proposal of the president of Vietnam elects the prime minister. The prime minister is responsible to the National Assembly, and the Assembly elects all ministers to government. Activity reports by the prime minister must be given to the National Assembly, while the Standing Committee of the National Assembly supervises the activities of the Central Government and the prime minister. Finally, the deputies of the National Assembly have the right to question the prime minister and other members of government. The prime minister is the only member of government who must be a member of the National Assembly. This is because the prime minister is accountable to the National Assembly, and they reports to it, or to its Standing Committee, and to the president. The prime minister issues directives and supervises the implementation of formal orders given by the president, the National Assembly or the Standing Committee. Cabinet members and members of the Central Government in general are responsible to the prime minister and the National Assembly for the fields they specialise in. According to the Constitution of Vietnam, the following are the duties, powers and responsibilities of the prime minister: • To head the Central Government, and direct the works of members of the Central Government, the People's Councils at all levels and to chair the meetings of the Cabinet; The prime minister serves concurrently as the secretary of the CPV Government Caucus Commission. The National Assembly chairman serves as the commission's deputy. Commission members are appointed by the Politburo, and the commission itself is responsible to the Politburo and the Secretariat. The decision-making process within the commission is based on the principles of collective leadership. ==References==