Vietnam's Communist Party Issues New Directive to Strengthen Grassroots Democracy

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam has issued Directive No. 09-CT/TW on strengthening the practice of democracy at the grassroots level in the new era. The directive was signed by Comrade Trần Cẩm Tú, member of the Politburo and Standing Secretary of the Secretariat. The directive acknowledges Vietnam's historical adherence to the principle that "the people are the root" (Dân là gốc), positioning the people as the central subject in innovation, construction, and national defense. It states that the effective implementation of grassroots democracy has contributed to the development of socialist democracy, strengthened the people's trust and connection with the Party and State, and served as a driving force for economic, cultural, and social development. However, the directive also points out that some Party committees, cadres, Party members, and citizens have not fully grasped the role and importance of grassroots democracy. The research, concretization, and implementation of grassroots democracy have been slow, and in some places, it remains formalistic and ineffective. The participation and input of a segment of the population in policy-making for important national issues are not sufficiently high. Imbalances exist between the practice of democracy and the maintenance of discipline and legal order. Furthermore, the misuse of democracy, particularly in cyberspace, has led to internal disunity and negatively impacted security and social order. As the country enters a new development phase, the directive emphasizes the need to innovate and enhance the quality and effectiveness of grassroots democracy. This practice should contribute to building socialist democracy, promoting the people's mastery, and aligning with the construction of a clean and strong Party and political system, and a socialist rule-of-law state with modern national governance. Grassroots democracy should become a powerful driving force to unlock social resources, leverage the collective strength of the political system and the people, and successfully achieve national development goals. The directive calls for establishing unified guiding viewpoints on grassroots democracy across the entire Party and political system, strengthening leadership and direction, continuously improving policies and laws related to grassroots democracy, and innovating methods for propaganda and mobilization to raise quality and effectiveness. Specifically, it mandates that Party committees, government agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and political-social organizations, along with their leaders, must recognize the practice of grassroots democracy as a crucial regular political task in building the Party and political system. It also proposes integrating the results of grassroots democracy implementation into the evaluation criteria for Party organizations, agencies, localities, businesses, and cadres. Moreover, it stresses the importance of listening to the people's opinions, fostering direct and online dialogues between Party committees, authorities, and the people, and ensuring timely and responsible responses and resolutions from Party and state agencies to the people's recommendations and proposals, thereby promoting the people's rights to supervision, constructive criticism, and contribution to building the Party and government. Source: Nhan Dan