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Hoàng Mai wrote this Vietnamese article, published in Luật Khoa Magazine on May 20, 2025. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.

At face value, one may question what distinguishes the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) legally from, say, a club for avid birdwatchers. After all, as a voluntary civic organization of the people, the VFF should hold no greater or lesser constitutional status than any other grassroots association, whether that be an ornamental fish club, a ballroom dancing group, or a golf society.

By all rights, the VFF belongs firmly within the realm of civil society—an entity formed and dissolved at the will of the people themselves. In this light, the Constitution's role should be to simply safeguard the VFF's right to exist and operate freely, just as it would for any other civic organization. There is no clear justification for the VFF's existence and functions to be constitutionalized, elevating it into a privileged entity.

Yet this is precisely the constitutional reality that has endured since the 1980 Constitution in Việt Nam. The act of enshrining an organization within the highest legal framework is typically reserved for core state institutions such as the Presidency, the Government, the judicial system, the People’s Procuracy, the Constitutional Council, or the State Audit Office. However, the VFF, alongside entities like the Youth Union and Trade Union, have long been granted this exceptional constitutional status.

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2013 Constitution: Article 9:

1. The Vietnam Fatherland Front is a political alliance and a voluntary union of the political organization, socio-political organizations and social organizations, and prominent individuals representing their class, social strata, ethnicity or religion and overseas Vietnamese.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front shall constitute the political base of the people’s administration; represent and protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of the People; rally and fully utilize the strength of the great national unity, exercise democracy and promote social consensus; conduct social supervision and criticism; and participate in the building of the Party and the State, and in people’s external relations’ activities, thus contributing to national construction and defense.

2. The Trade Union of Vietnam, the Vietnam Peasants’ Association, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women’s Union and the Vietnam War Veterans’ Association are socio-political organizations established on a voluntary basis to represent and protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of their members; and, together with other member organizations of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, coordinate and unify action within the Front.

3. The Vietnam Fatherland Front, its member organizations, and other social organizations shall operate within the framework of the Constitution and the law. The State shall facilitate the activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, its member organizations, and other social organizations.

Article 10

The Trade Union of Vietnam is a socio-political organization of the working class and laborers voluntarily established to represent laborers, care for and protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of laborers; participate in the state management and socio-economic management; participate in the examination, inspection and supervision of the operations of state agencies, organizations, units and enterprises regarding issues related to the rights and obligations of laborers; and mobilize laborers to learn to improve their professional qualifications and skills, abide by law, and build and defend the Fatherland.

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While the primary focus of the 2013 Constitution revisions is to restructure the system of local governance, the draft also contains notable changes pertaining to the role of the VFF within the political landscape.

Beyond the expected updates to Articles 110-115 on local administration, the proposed amendments include provisions that appear intended to bolster the VFF's position under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Most significantly, one proposed amendment to Article 9 adds the following clause: “The Vietnam Fatherland Front is a component of the political system of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, led by the Communist Party of Vietnam…”

Furthermore, the updates to Articles 9 and 10 emphasize the VFF's relationship with key socio-political organizations.

Draft Article 9 stipulates that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Vietnam Farmers’ Union, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women’s Union, and the Vietnam Veterans Association are “socio-political organizations under the Vietnam Fatherland Front [...] organized and [operate] uniformly within the Vietnam Fatherland Front.”

As Draft Article 10 specifies, "The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is a socio-political organization of the working class and laborers, established on a voluntary basis and under the Vietnam Fatherland Front."

Notably, the proposed constitutional amendments would mark the first explicit affirmation of the Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) leadership over the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) as a "component of the political system."

This represents a departure from previous constitutional texts, where the VFF was listed alongside "political parties" in the 1980 Constitution, but without any mention of the CPV's guiding role. In the later 1992 Constitution and its subsequent revisions, references to "political parties" were altogether removed from Article 9.

Beyond this explicit acknowledgment of the CPV's leadership, the draft constitution also expands the VFF's mandate to include representing public opinion and aspirations.

As articulated in the revised Article 9, the VFF shall "[...] unite and promote the strength of national solidarity; reflect the will and aspirations of the people and enhance their right to self-determination; represent and protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of the people; exercise democracy, strengthen social consensus; conduct oversight and social criticism; and convey public opinions and petitions to state agencies."

Through these proposed changes, the draft systematizes the VFF's position within the overall political structure. The vertical relationship between the ruling CPV, the VFF, and the affiliated socio-political organizations—including trade unions—is now clearly defined, rather than remaining ambiguous as in previous iterations of the constitution.

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The proposed constitutional amendments notably shift the positioning of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in relation to the VFF. Whereas the 1980 Constitution had listed the "political parties" as components of the VFF, the new draft text positions the CPV as the leading force guiding the front.

However, this raises the question of whether the VFF truly needs to be enshrined in the Constitution at all.

The constitutional provisions surrounding the VFF appear to contradict the right to freedom of association. If there were genuine freedom of association, any alliance of socio-political organizations would arise organically through voluntary coordination among the groups themselves. In that scenario, we would expect to see multiple voluntary alliances, not just one mandated by the Constitution.

Yet the draft text constitutionalizes the VFF as a "voluntary political alliance," which seems unnecessary if the right to free association truly existed. Moreover, by enshrining the VFF and its member organizations in the Constitution, the state is now obligated to guarantee their existence, specifically, by allocating public funds for their operations.

This budgetary reality is evidenced by the 1.934 trillion VND allocated to the central agencies of the VFF and its constitutionally-protected organizations in 2025 alone, not including local government spending. This privilege is not extended to other civic associations or groups in the country.

Equality before the law is a fundamental principle, as enshrined in Article 16 of the 2013 Constitution: "1. All persons are equal before the law. 2. No one shall be discriminated against in political, civil, economic, cultural, or social life."

For this principle to be upheld, the proposed constitutional amendments must take one of two approaches.

The first option would be to enshrine every association and civic organization in the country within the Constitution, listing them all and amending the text every time a new group is created or dissolved.

Alternatively, the Constitution would not mention the VFF and its affiliated organizations altogether, treating them no differently than any other civic groups or associations.