3 - Party-State Dominance in Elections and the Ward

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Election is one of the many functions that local administrators carry out for the party-state. This chapter investigates the management of elections in Vietnam, in particular the role of the ward state machinery in elections. Elections are an area over which the party-state has strong control. Party-state notions of what elections should be like and how they should proceed are easily achieved, and thus elections in Vietnam are a top-down process. Yet, aspects of elections in Vietnam, while inconsequential for election results, indicate that the ward is more than just an extension of the party-state; it is also an agent in ameliorating tensions in state–society relations that arise out of the regular holding of top-down — and restrained — elections.

In many countries, elections have an aura of formality. Formality is derived from foundational, publicly recognized documents of the political system, such as the country's constitution, electoral laws, and other government regulations. These documents set down how elections are supposed to, or not to, occur. Adhering to the formal procedure — the process — is important for the legitimacy of the electoral outcome. Contestants in an election respect election results not just because they have agreed to the rules, but also because the rules have been acceptably adhered to in electoral conduct. Of course, due to various reasons, informal features of elections also occur. They may include overlooking, bending or breaking the election rules and procedures stated in the formal documents. Reasons for these phenomena vary. Too much informality in procedures can prompt losers to charge electoral fraud and reject the results.

Elections in communist countries such as Vietnam are also formal, but they may not be legitimate elections in the sense that they are not necessarily looked upon with respect and trust with regard to their degree of fairness and justice. The main reason perhaps is that choices in Vietnamese elections are severely restricted by the party-state.