Laos’ LaoPhatthana News, Malaysia’s The Star and NewStraits Times, China’s Xinhua, Japan’s Nikkei Asia and NHK, UK’s Reuters, amongothers, reported that the elections took place as Vietnam battles a severeCOVID-19 resurgence, so it was a major challenge to secure a safe and smoothevent.
“The election this year takes place amid the complicateddevelopment of COVID-19 in the country,” Xinhua said. “Authorities have askedvoters to strictly follow COVID-19 prevention and control protocols, includingwearing masks and maintaining social distancing at polling stations,” itreported.
Nikkei Asia quoted Ha Hoang Hop, a visiting senior fellowat Singaporean research group ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, as saying that theVietnamese government has enforced stricter prevention measures at all votingsites, as the current COVID-19 situation are complicated and uncertain.
The elections of deputies to the 15th National Assemblyand People’s Councils of all levels for the 2021-26 tenure was an importantpolitical event in Vietnam, which had been organized in a very professionalmanner and conducted without any blemish, reported eurasiareview.com, addingthat Vietnamese people willingly cooperated with the organisers without anyraucous.
The site said to ensure the success of the elections andminimise impacts from the pandemic, the National Election Council (NEC) hasissued a number of documents directing and guiding how to safely conduct theelections, including those instructing the making of voter lists and votingmethods for voters undertaking quarantine in pandemic-hit areas.
It went on to underline Vietnam’s 35 years of developmentprocess, saying its achievements in economy, foreign policy anddefence-security domains inject a sense of confidence to cope with the currentdifficulties and challenges triggered by external factors.
“In the light of this, sound election preparation is afurther extension of people’s aspirations to scale new heights in thedevelopment process,” the website wrote.
“For the forthcoming elections, the credentials of thecandidates have been evaluated and those found to be deserving delegates areput in the fray,” it continued. “This is also an affirmation of Vietnam’sachievements under the leadership of the Communist Party in all fields,especially economy and epidemic prevention.”
The website said in the foreign policy domain, the partyhas demonstrated an independent stance, which has enabled the government toachieve outstandingly in many bilateral as well as regional issues, therebyenhancing the country’s standing before the global community./.