Vietnam president gets second term

The country's top leadership remains unchanged

Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong has been reappointed by the country's national assembly.

President Luong received 97% of the vote from the 498 members of the assembly, which is meeting for the first time since elections in May.

The president is now expected to renominate Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, and a vote will be held on Thursday.

Party chief Nong Duc Manh is seen to wield more power

President Luong, 65, trained as a geologist in the former Soviet Union, and is a long-time Communist Party member.

As president he has responsibility for foreign and defence policy, as well as internal party discipline.

However, observers say that he wields less power than the prime minister or Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

New legislation

Last week Mr Manh called on members of the country's newly elected parliament to continue the pursuit of democracy and clean government.

He said the deputies should focus on improved law-making.

The national assembly is widely viewed as a rubber-stamp parliament, accepting and endorsing the edicts of party bureaucrats.

However, assembly chairman Nguyen Van An was quizzed by members during a debate on his re-election at Tuesday's session.

He and his three vice-chairmen stood unopposed, but faced questions about how democratic the vote was.

Observers said it was the first time such issues had been raised at the National Assembly.

The assembly is due to consider legislation that would pave the way for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organisation.

A wholesale reform of the murky Soviet-era legal system is planned to enable the country's economy to keep up with its giant neighbour, China.