Reports from Vietnam say the Communist Party Central Committee has elected the army's chief political commissar, General Le Kha Phieu, as the new general secretary of the party.

According to party sources, the appointment will not be made public until the forthcoming party congress.

Phieu, who spent his entire career in the army, is widely regarded as a conservative.

He replaces Do Muoi, who is retiring aged eighty, and the election marks the complete transfer of power to a younger generation.

The National Assembly elected a new President, Tran Duc Luong, and a new prime minister, Phan Van Khai, in October

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
 

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