Vietnam's parliament met on Thursday to approve the resignation of President Vo Van Thuong, just a year after his predecessor fell victim to a wide-reaching graft purge and political feuding roiling the communist state, reports BSS.
The ruling Communist Party announced Wednesday that Thuong had quit after barely a year in the job, saying he was guilty of unspecified "violations and shortcomings".
The 53-year-old's departure, after days of rumours he was on his way out, comes as Vietnam undergoes major -- and uncharacteristic -- political upheaval.
Vietnam has long prized stability and careful management of political change, but this has been upended by a sweeping crackdown on corruption, believed to be orchestrated by party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong -- seen as the most powerful figure in the country.
The purge saw Thuong's predecessor, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, forced to resign suddenly last January, as well as two deputy prime ministers ousted.
A handful of the country's top business leaders have been put on trial in huge fraud and corruption cases, with one facing a possible death sentence in a $12.5-billion bond scam case.
The party's politburo, its key decision-making body, has now lost four of its 18 members since 2021 -- two presidents, a deputy prime minister and a former trade minister.
Before Phuc's resignation last year, only one other Communist Party president had ever stepped down, and that was for health reasons.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
