Bùi Thị An. — Photo baohaiquan

National Assembly Deputy Bùi Thị An speaks to Hải Quan online (Customs) newspaper about a confidence vote that will be held in late October for high-ranking officials in the National Assembly and people’s councils.

Do you have any comments on the quality and effectiveness of the last two confidence votes for high ranking positions in both the National Assembly and the people’s councils?

Confidence votes for high ranking positions cast by National Assembly deputies are a form of performance supervision. This will be the third time a vote of confidence has been taken under the 13th legislature of the National Assembly. In the first confidence vote some deputies did not do so well, but that improved in the second confidence vote. However, in reality, there are still those who have not lived up to their commitments to their voters and even their peers but still got rather high confidence votes. We need to make sure that the votes will be objective as the NA deputies are the genuine representatives of Vietnamese voters.

In my opinion, all NA deputies hope NA elected/approved leaders will perform their duties to the best of their abilities while assessing their own performances regularly.

Are there any differences in the confidence votes conducted in the administrative and legislative bodies?

In the legislative body, their work cannot be quantified as clearly as those in the judiciary or executive bodies. Performance results of the judiciary and executive bodies are easily recognised. That’s why during the confidence vote, it is a lot easier for deputies to decide on their yes/no votes for people working in the judiciary/executive bodies.

That’s why in my opinion, NA deputies often focus more on the performance of the judiciary/executive bodies than the legislative body.

All the three sectors are very important for national socio-economic development. However, the achievements made by the judiciary and executives bodies are more easily quantified. For the legislative body, it takes more time for people to see the results. It is indisputable that the work done by the legislative body plays a very important role in the course of national development.

What’s the significance of the confidence vote for people in high positions elected or approved by the National Assembly?

One of the objectives of the confidence vote is to measure the performance of each position. NA members just want to know if people in high positions in both the National Assembly and people’s councils have lived up to their commitments.

To make sure the confidence vote is confidential and effective, we should organise meetings for ministers and heads of branches to meet with other deputies to debrief them about what they have done since they were elected. This could be done in the form of  Q&A sessions, or the NA Standing Committee could provide short reports on the work done by the deputies they will cast their votes for.

Last but not least, before casting their votes, NA deputies could meet with voters in their constituencies to ask for their opinions. Comments from the voters are of great importance and objective. — VNS