While state media remained silent and Vietnam Television (VTV1) had yet to broadcast live the oath-taking ceremony of the president of the 16th term, a Facebook page with more than 1.5 million followers preemptively reported that Tô Lâm had been elected president.
Event timeline: At 8:59 a.m. on April 7, the Facebook page “Hà Nội Fan” posted that the National Assembly had elected General Secretary Tô Lâm as president.
- The page cited a report published at 8:47 a.m. the same day by VTC News, a state-owned digital newspaper, and included a screenshot in the comments section. Although this VTC News article has since been taken down, “Hà Nội Fan” later updated its comment section with a new VTC News report posted at 9:19 a.m.
- Meanwhile, VTV1 did not begin its live broadcast of the National Assembly’s proceedings to pass the draft resolution electing Tô Lâm as president until 9:15 a.m.
Significantly, the first session of the 16th National Assembly restricts live broadcasts strictly to the closing session and the oath-taking ceremony. The public is unable to follow the procedural election of the National Assembly chairperson and other top state leaders of the new term.
Screenshot of the updated comment posted by Hà Nội Fan:
Screenshot of the updated comment posted by Hà Nội Fan:
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on April 7, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights of the English translation.
