HO CHI MINH CITY — A flurry of new appointments in Vietnam has filled the government with communist party loyalists and graduates of the security apparatus that defined the career of party leader To Lam.
Monday's election of Nguyen Hoa Binh, Bui Thanh Son and Ho Duc Phoc means Vietnam now has an unprecedented five deputy prime ministers. Parliament also approved new justice and environment ministers and a chief justice in an extraordinary session, although these sessions are becoming more “routine” as officials removed from office by the years-long anti-corruption crackdown must be constantly replaced.