Vietnam’s Communists set to reinstall conservative as chief

Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it is clear that the Communist Party’s eight-day Congress set to open Thursday was the kind of political cliffhanger that would do a democracy proud, as a battle for power hinged on a last-minute procedural question.

After weeklong deliberations, the congress of 1,510 delegates will select a new set of leaders to rule Vietnam for the next five years: the president, the prime minister, the chairman of the National Assembly, and most importantly, the party’s general secretary, the de facto national leader.

A rare and intriguing contest arose between 71-year-old incumbent Nguyen Phu Trong, a conservative party stalwart, and Nguyen Tan Dung, 66, a two-term prime minister with greater ambitions who projected himself as a pro-business, economic reformist.

Vietnam’s next leader will play a key role in deciding the pace of Vietnam’s economic reforms, which have brought a flood of foreign investment, a fledgling stock market and helped triple per capita GDP to $2,100 over the past 10 years.