Government.
50
The bill was challenged on constitutional grounds. During the
February 2010 meeting of the NASC to debate the bill, a deputy argued that while
the Constitution does not discriminate among provincial units, the bill authorizes
special discretion for the capital city.^51 A similar argument was addressed in
the plenary session of the NA. The story indicates another dimension in the
development of the legislative–executive relationship in Vietnam: the NA had
invoked the Constitution to enhance its arguments in a tense dialogue with the
Government.
To recapitulate, the function of representative democratic institutions in
Vietnam has considerably changed in the last decade. The congressional forum
is no longer entirely the marionette of the Party. Rather, the National Assembly has
gradually become the public platform reflecting increasing popular demand for
greater accountability and legitimacy on the part of the Party and the Government.
Constitutional rights protection
In the popular view of the West, Vietnam’s constitution fails as a meaningful source
of citizens’ rights.
52
Although Vietnam lacks a judicial review system to implement
constitutional rights, it is unlikely that judicial review is thesine qua nonof
constitutional rights enforcement. Ste ́phanie Balme and Michael W. Dowdle,
two legal experts at Sciences Po, Paris, point out that “even in the most effective
constitutional system, significant aspects of constitutional structure are invariably
nonjusticiable.”
(^53) In the case of Vietnam, even though the country has not had a
constitutional adjudication system, the Constitution has been invoked to challenge
policy proposals and legal documents allegedly violating citizens’ rights.
This phenomenon can first be illustrated with the famous “motorbike case.” As a
result of population growth and the increasing number of imported motorbikes in
recent years, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and other major cities of Vietnam have
suffered grave traffic accidents and congestion. One solution was to limit motor-
cycle registration. In 2003 , Hanoi People’s Council passed a resolution adopting
a policy of “one person one motorcycle” in seven assigned districts. In the same
year, the policy was nationally applied when the Ministry of Public Security
(^50) See “National Assembly rejects the Draft Law on Capital City,”http://english.vietnamnet.
vn/en/politics/ 6528 /national-embly-rects-draft-law-on-capital-city.html.
(^51) “See Du thao Luat Thu do vuong Hien phap” (The Bill on the Capital is blocked by the
Constitution),http://tuoitre.vn/Chinh-tri-Xa-hoi/ 363514 /Du-thao-Luat-thu-do-vuong-hien-
phap.html(last visited October 20 , 2010 ).
(^52) John Gillespie, “Juridification of state regulation in Vietnam,” in John Gillespie and Albert
Chen (eds.),Legal Reform in China and Vietnam(New York: Routledge, 2010 ), p. 85 ;
William J. Duiker, “The constitutional system of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” in
Lawrence W. Beer (ed.),Constitutional Systems in Late Twentieth Century Asia
(Washington, DC: University of Washington Press, 1992 ), p. 331.
(^53) See Ste ́phanie Balme and Michael W. Dowdle,Building Constitutionalism in China
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 ), p. 2.