Chamber:
	Quoc-Hoi
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	19 May 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in the National Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Voters went to the polls on 19 May 2002 to elect an enlarged National Assembly. They had to elect 498 National Assembly members from 759 candidates in 188 constituencies, against 450 seats and 666 candidates in the last elections in 1997. Of the 759 candidates, 125 were non-partisan candidates, while the others were members of the Communist Party. The main campaign issue was the fight against corruption, at all levels of society, as increasingly widespread corruption and wealth of senior officials had become a major cause of dissatisfaction for voters. The media were full of revelations as to links between high-level police officers and party officials and well-known organised crime figures. In addition, three Communist Party officials were disqualified from the final list of candidates, one of them being linked to a major underworld figure who is in jail on murder charges. During the electoral campaign, party and State leaders vowed to do their utmost to ensure that the 11th National Assembly conducted its business efficiently, and the Communist Party leader described corruption as the number one poll issue. The elections were seen as significant because for the first time, at least a quarter of the deputies will be full time, and the candidates contesting seats were younger and with higher academic qualifications than in previous elections. Also for the first time, the candidates were required to disclose their assets in an effort to combat corruption. Some 99 per cent of the nearly 50 million eligible voters cast ballots, according to final official figures. When the results were officially announced, they gave the Communist Party 447 seats and the remaining 51 seats to non-party members. The new National Assembly, that held its first sitting on 19 July 2002, has only 135 re-elected members, which means that 69.8 per cent of its members are newcomers. On that same date, it re-elected Mr Nguyen Van An as its Speaker.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (19 May 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	49 783 769
Voters	49 211 275 (99 %)

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Communist Party	447
Non-party members	51

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	362
Women:	136
Percent of women:	27.31 %