List of prime ministers of Vietnam

The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Thủ tướng Chính phủ nước Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), known as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Vietnamese: Chủ tịch Hội đồng Bộ trưởng) from 1981 to 1992, is the highest office within the Central Government. The prime minister is simultaneously the Secretary of the Government Caucus Commission, a Party organ on government affairs, and Deputy Chairman of the Council for Defence and Security, an organ of the National Assembly.^[1] Throughout its history, the office has been responsible, at least in theory but not always in practice, for handling Vietnam's internal policies. Since Vietnam is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Vietnam being the sole party allowed by the constitution, all the prime ministers of the Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic have been members of the party while holding office. The current prime minister is Phạm Minh Chính, since 5 April 2021. He is sixth-ranked in the Political Bureau (Politburo).^{[2][note 1]}

The Office of the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic traces its lineage back to Hồ Chí Minh, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic. The office has no official connection, or lineage, to the heads of government of the former South Vietnam (with the exception of Huỳnh Tấn Phát, a communist and the last head of government of South Vietnam). Officially there have been 8 prime ministers of Vietnam,^[3] but there have been 29 prime ministers of Vietnam if the prime ministers of the Empire of Vietnam and South Vietnam are counted.^[4]

The Prime Minister is elected by the proposal of the President of Vietnam to the National Assembly and is responsible to the National Assembly, which elects all ministers to government. Activity reports by the Prime Minister must be given to the National Assembly, while the Standing Committee of the National Assembly supervises the activities of the Central Government and the Prime Minister. Finally, the deputies of the National Assembly have the right to question the Prime Minister and other members of government.^[5]

Legends

Colour key (for political parties)
Cochinchinese Democratic Party   Military (VNA / RVNMF)   Independent   Constitutional Party   Vietnamese Nationalist Party   Nationalist Party   Cần Lao Party   National Social Democratic Front   Democratic Party   Forces for National Reconciliation   National Liberation Front (Việt Cộng)

Empire of Vietnam (1945)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chief of Cabinet of the Empire of Vietnam
1		Trần Trọng Kim (1883–1953)	17 April 1945	23 August 1945	128 days	Đại Việt National Socialist Party

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945–76)

Status

  Denotes Acting Prime Minister

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chairman of Provisional Revolutionary Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (2 September-31 December 1945) President of Provisional Coalition Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1 January-2 March 1946) President of United Resistance Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (2 March-3 November 1946) Chairman of United National Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1946–1955)
1		Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969)[6]	17 August 1945	20 September 1955	10 years, 34 days	Communist Party of Indochina (until 1951) Worker's Party of Vietnam (from 1951)
—		Huỳnh Thúc Kháng (1876–1947)[7]	31 May 1946	21 September 1946	113 days	Independent
Prime Minister of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
2		Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000)	20 September 1955	2 July 1976	20 years, 286 days	Worker's Party of Vietnam

State of Vietnam and Republic of Vietnam (1949–1975)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
State of Vietnam (1949–1955)
1		Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (Bảo Đại) (1913–1997)	14 June 1949	21 January 1950	191 days	Independent
2	–	Nguyễn Phan Long (1889–1960)	21 January 1950	27 April 1950	96 days	Constitution Party
3	–	Trần Văn Hữu (1896–1984)	6 May 1950	3 June 1952	2 years, 28 days	Independent
4		Nguyễn Văn Tâm (1893–1990)	23 June 1952	17 December 1953	1 year, 167 days	Nationalist Party
5		Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc (1914–1990)	11 January 1954	16 June 1954	156 days	Independent
6		Ngô Đình Diệm (1901–1963)	16 June 1954	26 October 1955	1 year, 132 days	Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party
Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975)
1		Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (1908–1976)	4 November 1963	28 February 1964	85 days	Independent
(2)		Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013)	28 February 1964	27 August 1964	203 days	Military
—	–	Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003)	29 August 1964	3 September 1964	5 days	Independent
(2)		Nguyễn Khánh (1927–2013) Acting	3 September 1964	4 November 1964	62 days	Military
3		Trần Văn Hương (1902–1982)	4 November 1964	27 January 1965	84 days	Independent
—	–	Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (1921–2003) Acting	27 January 1965	15 February 1965	19 days	Independent
4		Phan Huy Quát (1908–1979)	16 February 1965	5 June 1965	109 days	Nationalist Party
5		Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930–2011)	14 June 1965	1 September 1967	2 years, 74 days	Military
6		Nguyễn Văn Lộc (1922–1992)	1 November 1967	17 May 1968	259 days	Military
(3)		Trần Văn Hương	28 May 1968	22 August 1969	1 year, 96 days	National Social Democratic Front
7		Trần Thiện Khiêm (1925–2021)	22 August 1969	5 April 1975	5 years, 215 days	National Social Democratic Front
8		Nguyễn Bá Cẩn (1930–2009)	5 April 1975	25 April 1975	19 days	Vietnam Workers and Farmers Party
9		Vũ Văn Mẫu (1914–1998)	28 April 1975	30 April 1975	2 days	Force for National Reconciliation

Vietnam (1976–present)

Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)

Status

  Denotes Acting Chairman of the Council of Ministers/Prime Minister

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
1		Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000)	2 July 1976	18 December 1980	4 years, 167 days	Communist Party of Vietnam
Chairman of the Council of Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
1		Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000)	18 December 1980	18 June 1987	6 years, 182 days	Communist Party of Vietnam
2		Police senior colonel Phạm Hùng (1912–1988)	18 June 1987	10 March 1988†	273 days
3		Đỗ Mười (1917–2018)	22 June 1988	9 August 1991	3 years, 48 days
—		Võ Văn Kiệt (1922–2008)	10 March 1988	22 June 1988	104 days
4			9 August 1991	22 September 1992	1 year, 44 days
Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
4		Võ Văn Kiệt (1922–2008)	22 September 1992	25 September 1997	5 years, 3 days	Communist Party of Vietnam
5		Phan Văn Khải (1933–2018)[8]	25 September 1997	27 June 2006 resigned	8 years, 275 days
6		Army Major Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (born 1949)	27 June 2006	6 April 2016	9 years, 284 days
7		Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (born 1954)	7 April 2016	5 April 2021	4 years, 363 days
8		Police lieutenant general Phạm Minh Chính (born 1958)	5 April 2021	Incumbent	4 years, 139 days

Timeline

See also

• List of presidents of Vietnam
• List of heads of government of Vietnam
• Leaders of South Vietnam

Notes

1.^ The Politburo of the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body of the CPV and the Central Government. The membership composition, and the order of rank of the individual Politburo members is decided in an election within the newly formed Central Committee in the aftermath of a Party Congress.^[9] The Central Committee can overrule the Politburo, but that does not happen often.^[10]

2.^ These numbers are official. The "—" denotes acting head of government. The first column shows how many heads of government there have been in Vietnamese history, while the second show how many heads of government there was in that state.

3.^ The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo.^[9] According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he was standing for election for a seat in the Politburo. This system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee.^[11] The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, and some believe it still does.^[9]

4.^ Phạm Văn Đồng became 4th-ranked member in the Politburo hierarchy when Hồ Chí Minh, the 1st ranked, died in 1969.^[12]

5.^ Phạm Văn Đồng was ranked 2nd in the Politburo hierarchy when Lê Duẩn, the General Secretary of the Central Committee, died on 10 July 1986.

6.^ Died in office.