arrangement and national governance, such as popular sovereignty, the rule of law,
and judicial independence.
Like the socialist rule-of-law state, distribution of powers (phan cong quyen luc),
another concept appearing in the political documents of the Party’s national
congresses, was constitutionally regulated in 2001. Article 2 of the Constitution
was supplemented with this principle: “State power is in unity with distribution and
co-ordination among state bodies in exercising legislative, executive and judicial
powers.”^19 Some foreign observers seem to underestimate the meaningfulness of
the notion of distribution of powers in Vietnam. While commitment to unity and
the co-ordination of powers persistently rebuts the Montesquieuian model of
tripartite government, the notion of distribution of powers reveals that Vietnam’s
aversion to the theory of separation of powers is rather appeased. A Party commen-
tator states: “We do not establish our State under the theory of separation of powers
but we reference and internalize its reasonable elements.”
20
It is conceived that the
distribution of governmental labor is an acceptable component of Western ideol-
ogy.
21
The constitutionalization of the principle of distribution of powers implies
commitment to a less concentrated paradigm of constitutional design and practice.
New mechanism of vote of confidence
As a necessary concomitant of the rule-of-law state, the revised constitution
introduced a new mechanism of vote of confidence (bo phieu tin nhiem), which
is inspired by the institution of vote of no confidence prevalently practiced in
parliamentary systems
(^22) and contemplated in the 1946 constitution of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam.^23 The 2001 constitutional reformers in Vietnam
have modified the mechanism of thevote of no confidenceto establish the alterna-
tivevote of confidence. The modification can be explained by the idea thatvote of
no confidencemay be rather strong in the Vietnamese monist political environment
because it implies political conflict.^24 According to the Vietnamese version, the
NA is authorized to vote confidence in individual officials (not in a collective body)
(^191992) constitution, Art. 2 (revised).
(^20) Dao Duy Tung,Qua trinh Hinh thanh Con duong Di len Chu nghia Xa hoi o Viet Nam
(The Genesis of the Path to Socialism in Vietnam) (Hanoi: National Politics Publishing
House, 2004 ), p. 209.
(^21) LeˆMinh Thoˆng, “Nhung Yeu cau cua Nha nuoc Phap quyen Xa hoi Chu nghia Doi voi
Viec Doi moi Mo hinh Bo may Nha nuoc” (Requirements of the socialist rule-of-law state
for renovating the model of state apparatus) ( 2010 ) 16 ( 177 )Legislative Studies Journal 10.
(^22) Richard Albert, “The fusion of presidentialism and parliamentarism” ( 2009 ) 57 American
Journal of Comparative Law 550.
(^23) Art. 54 of the 1946 constitution provides that: “The Minister who has lost the confidence of
the People’s Parliament must resign...the Cabinet which has lost the confidence (of the
People’s Parliament) must resign.”
(^24) In fact, there also exists the so-called “vote of confidence.” See Andrew Heard, “Just what is
a vote of confidence? The curious case of May 10 , 2005 ”( 2007 ) 20 Canadian Journal of
Political Science 395.