Communist Party of Vietnam

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)is the founding and ruling communist party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since 1988, it is the only legal party in the country. Although it nominally exists alongside the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, it maintains a unitary government and has centralised control over the state, military and media. The supremacy of the Communist Party is guaranteed by Article 4 of the national constitution. The current party's leader is Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who holds the titles of General Secretary of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Military Commission.

The party is known for the advocacy of what it calls a "socialist-oriented market economy". The highest institution of the CPV is the party's National Congress which elects the Central Committee. In between party congresses, the Central Committee is the supreme organ on party affairs. Immediately after a party congress, the Central Committee elects the Politburo and Secretariat and it appoints the First Secretary, the highest party office. In between sessions of the Central Committee, the Politburo is the supreme organ on party affairs. However, it can only implement decisions based upon the policies which have been approved in advance by either the Central Committee or the party's National Congress. As of 2017, the 12th Politburo comprises 19 members.

In most of the cases, the Vietnamese press and people refer to the Communist Party of Vietnam as Đảng ("Party") or Đảng ta ("our Party").