To Lam: ex-public security minister turned Vietnam top leader
To Lam, named Vietnam's top leader on Saturday, is a powerful former public security minister who has been swiftly elevated by a corruption crackdown that swept away other contenders.
He was confirmed as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam after the death of his predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades.
In his first remarks as general secretary, Lam said his promotion was the result of «an urgent need to ensure the leadership of the party».
Lam, 67, has spent his entire career in the secretive ministry of public security and has been jockeying for influence for some time, according to analysts.
In May, he became president — a largely ceremonial role — after his predecessor resigned as part of a vast anti-graft purge.
Thousands of people — including top officials and senior business leaders — have been caught up in the Southeast Asian country's «blazing furnace» crackdown on graft.
Lam's elevation comes as little surprise to analysts and he is not expected to vastly shift the country's existing policies.
But it marks a «total victory» for Lam, said Benoit de Treglode, research director at the Institute for Strategic Research at France's military academy in Paris.
«He is an extremely strong statesman, supported by a ministry at the heart of the Vietnamese political project,» he said.
«We will witness a personalisation of power around him, which will lead to political stability» and a movement towards «continuity, and not rupture».
Vietnam's leadership structure
