HANOI, Vietnam.- Delegates to the eighth plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam unanimously approved the candidacy of Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong to occupy the vacant Presidency of the country.

If the nominee was elected, it would be the first time in the history of the country that the top leader of the Communist Party also served as head of State.

The final decision will be adopted by the National Assembly at the sixth regular session of its fourteenth legislature, scheduled from next October 22 to November 20.

Nguyen Phu Trong, 74, is a professor. He has been part of the Political Bureau for 21 years and headed the National Assembly from 2007 to 2011, when he was elected for the first time to the General Secretariat of the Communist Party, a position he repeats since 2016.