Research purposes: On the basis of an overview of the research, analysis, and clarification of theoretical issues and status of the NA representatives’ supervisory activities, the dissertation proposes views and solutions to enhance the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in the coming time.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY *** THAI NGOC CHAU CURRENT SUPERVISION ACTIVITIES OF VIETNAMESE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY REPRESENTATIVES SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS ON POLITICAL SIENCE Major: Politics Code: 9310201 Nghe An, 2021 This thesis was made and completed at Vinh University Science instructor: Associate Professor, Dr Dinh The Dinh Associate Professor, Dr Dinh Trung Thanh Reviewer 1: Associate Professor… University ……………… Reviewer 2: Associate Professor… University ……………… Reviewer 3: Associate Professor… University ……………… The thesis is defended at the university-level dissertation grading Council; meeting at Vinh University on ……… March 2021 Details of the thesis can be found at: - National Library, 31 Trang Thi, Tran Hung Dao, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi - Information Center - Library of Vinh University 182, Le Duan, Vinh, Nghe An A INTRODUCTION Problem statement The reality of more than 75 years of operation of the National Assembly of Vietnam shows that effective implementation of the supervisory function is a very important issue, ensuring that the Constitution and laws are strictly enforced, the government agencies properly and effectively implemented their duties and powers National Assembly (“NA”) members are the representatives of the will and aspirations of the people, on behalf of the people to monitor the activities of government agencies, contribute to the control of government power and control public administration and complementary to legislative activities Over the past time, supervisory activities of the National Assembly and the NA representatives have innovated in both contents and modes of operation, achieving positive results In addition, there are still some limitations and shortcomings that need to be overcome and thoroughly resolved The new context of the world and the country poses a requirement to continue to renovate the organization and activities of the National Assembly in general, to improve the quality and effectiveness of the supervisory activities and the NA representatives in particular For the above reasons, the PhD student chooses the issue of "Current supervision activities of the Vietnamese National Assembly representatives" as the subject of doctoral thesis in Politics Purpose and mission of the research 2.1 Research purposes On the basis of an overview of the research, analysis, and clarification of theoretical issues and status of the NA representatives’ supervisory activities, the dissertation proposes views and solutions to enhance the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in the coming time 2.2 Research mission Firstly: Having overall assessment of domestic and foreign research related to the NA representatives’ supervisory activities, find out issues that need further research Secondly: Clarifying the theoretical issues and practical experience about the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities Thirdly: Assessing the current status the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities Fourthly: Proposing views and solutions to enhance the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in the coming time Object and scope of the research 3.1 Research objects This thesis researches the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities 3.2 Research scope - Regarding the scope of content: The thesis researches the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities as an independent supervisory subject, including questioning activities, supervision of legal documents, and law enforcement supervision at locals to oversee the settlement of citizen’s complaints and denunciations - Regarding the time scale: The thesis focuses on researching the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in all fields, especially focusing on the period since the 2015 Law on supervision activities of the National Assembly and the People's Council (Law No 87/2015/QH13) which has been implemented (from July 1, 2016) up to now Literature review and methodology 4.1 Literature review - The theoretical basis of the thesis are the views of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the views of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the government, the organization and activities of the government in general and on supervisory activities of the NA representatives in particular - Refer to political theories about government organization and supervisory activities Especially, refer to parliamentary supervisory models and methods of some countries such as the UK, Poland, Sweden, China, Japan etc 4.2 Research methodology - The thesis applies the methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism The author uses two main groups of research methods: - Group of theoretical research methods: methods of political system analysis, methods of functional structure analysis etc In addition, the thesis also uses general, interdisciplinary and specialized methods such as: analysis and synthesis methods, history and logic methods, statistical and comparison methods, qualitative and quantitative methods - Group of practical research methods: methods of practical survey and sociological investigation, statistical and comparison; empirical analysis model etc In addition, the thesis also uses typical case studies, predictive research method, and offers proposals and feasible solutions New contributions of the thesis 5.1 Theoretically Firstly, the thesis supplements and completes the theoretical basis of supervisory activities of the NA representatives (definition of the supervisory activities, contents and procedures of supervisory activities of the NA representatives; the factors to ensure the effectiveness of the supervisory) Especially, the thesis has analyzed and clarified the process of supervisory activities of the NA representatives Secondly, the thesis identifies and explains the raised issues that need to be resolved in supervisory activities of the NA representatives 5.2 In practical terms Firstly, the thesis clarifies the current status of the Vietnamese NA representatives’ supervisory activities, especially the period since the Law on supervision activities of the National Assembly and the People's Council (Law No 87/2015/QH13) has been implemented until now Secondly, the thesis proposes a number of perspectives and solutions to enhance the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in the coming time Thirdly, the thesis is used for reference, theoretical research and teaching about the organizing supervisory activities of the NA representatives At the same time, the thesis provides experience in organizing supervisory activities of the NA representatives, contributing to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Vietnamese NA representatives’ supervisory activities Research questions and research hypotheses 6.1 Research question Firstly: What is the theoretical basis of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities? Secondly: What is the current status of the Vietnamese NA representatives’ supervisory activities? Thirdly: What requirements for the Vietnamese NA representatives’ supervisory activities? Fourthly: What is the solution to strengthen the Vietnamese NA representatives’ supervisory activities? 6.2 Research hypothesis The NA representatives is the basic and most important element constituting the National Assembly The duties and powers of the National Assembly are performed by the NA representatives The functions, duties and powers of the National Assembly and the NA representatives in the supervisory activities are specified by the Constitution and law However, the current status of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities still have many limitations and shortcomings, not meeting the requirements of real life and voters' requirements The solutions proposed by the thesis, if properly recognized and applied in practice, will contribute to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities The structure of the thesis In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references and scientific works of the author, the thesis is structured with chapters and 10 items B CONTENTS Chapter OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION RELATED TO THE TOPIC 1.1 Related works 1.1.1 Foreign studies on supervisory activities of the National Assembly and National Assembly members John Dewey (in The Public and its Problems), Robert A Dahl (in Democracy and its Critics), and Michael Mann (in The Sources of Social Power) all agree that, in order to limit the abuse of government power and achieve the goal of democracy and social equality, it is necessary to control and supervise government power The authors affirm that only through supervising the law enforcement process, parliament members can detect the limitations of the law, especially the law enforcement of the Law Enforcement Authorities Ricardo Pelizzo - Rick Stapenhurst in Tools for Legislative Oversight: An Empirical Investigation analyzed parliamentary supervising tools of nations, assessing the relationship between supervising tools and the different aspects of national political life, especially the relationship between the supervising tools and the democracy level Walter Oleszek (in the article “Congressional Oversight: An Overview”) and Ricardo Pelizzo - Rick Stapenhurst (in Tools for Legislative Oversight: An Empirical Investigation) affirm the fundamental goals of national assembly supervision is for law enforcement officials have responsibilities to exercise their assigned powers, and analyze parliamentary supervising tools of nations, assess the relationship between supervising tools and different aspects of national political life, especially the relationship between the supervising tools and the democracy level The issue of supervisory activities of the National Assembly and National Assembly members are also mentioned by the authors in other prominent works such as: Political Negotiation by Jane Mansbridge-Cathie Jo Martin, Congressional Investigations and Oversight: Case Studies and Analysis by Stanley M Brand and Lance Cole 1.1.2 Domestic studies on supervisory activities of the National Assembly and National Assembly members 1.1.2.1 Studies on supervision rights and supervisory activities of the National Assembly and National Assembly members Regarding the contents of supervisory rights and supervisory activities of the National Assembly and the NA representatives, there are typical works such as: “The supervision of the National Assembly” of author Nguyen Thai Phuc; The people supervised the elected bodies in Vietnam during the Renovation period of author Dang Dinh Tan; “Social supervision in the rule of law government” of author Vu Anh Tuan; “Improving supervisory efficiency is a requirement of the voters” of author Nguyen Nhung; “Promoting the people's right to control and supervise government power in Vietnam today” by author Nguyen The Trung; “Supervisory authority of the National Assembly, content and practice from reference viewpoint”, Nguyen Sy Dung; “Theoretical and practical basis of questioning activities of the NA representatives", the discussion of author Dinh Xuan Thao at Law Conference on the NA representatives in current time Theoretical and practical issues; "Issues about the role of supervisory activities of the People's Council and initial steps to develop processes of supervision” by the author Tran Dinh Hue; “Issues that need to be further improved on the working conditions of the NA representatives” by Bui Ngoc Thanh; “Supervisory activities of elected bodies in Vietnam: problems and solutions” of Nguyen Si Dung and Vu Cong Giao, etc The author's researches have discussed the content, process, procedure and condition to ensure the supervisory activities of the National Assembly and the NA representatives 1.1.2.2 The research works on the practice of supervisory activities of the National Assembly and National Assembly members Regarding the practice of the supervisory activities of National Assembly, there are assessments and reports of the National Assembly’s agencies and the Government such as: Synthesis report on the verification content of Ethnic Council, the Committees of the National Assembly on the implementation of the National Assembly's decision on thematic supervising activities, questioning activities from the beginning of term no XIII to 2015, dated 14 November 2015 of the Secretariat of the National Assembly session; Government (2015), Report No 627 / BC-CP dated 15 November 2015 on the implementation of the resolutions of the National Assembly on questioning and thematic supervising of the Government [8]; Report No 44/BC - UBTVQH14 of Standing Committee dated 31 October 2016 on the Results of supervising “The implementation of the National Target Program on new rural xonstruction (2010-2015) associates with the restructuring of the agriculture sector of the National Assembly Standing Committee; Report No 832/BC-UBTVQH13 dated 28 February 2015 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on The review of supervision activities of the National Assembly over 10 years of implementation of the Law on supervision activities of the National Assembly and supervisory activities of People's Committee Regarding the mechanism of government power control, there are studies such as: Supervising and supervising mechanism for the implementation of government power in our country today of Dao Tri Uc - Vo Khanh Vinh; Government power control: Some theoretical and practical issues in Vietnam today of Trinh Thi Xuyen; Completing the provisions of the law on questioning and answering questions of the National Assembly members of Le Thanh Van; Improving the legal mechanism for the people to control the government power in Vietnam of Nguyen Quang Anh Strengthening supervision of government power is an objective and urgent requirement, an important solution to renovate and improve the political system in Vietnam Related to this content, there are studies such as: "Renovating and strengthening supervision of government power" by Tran Dinh Nghiem; Supervisory activities of the National Assembly of Vietnam in the Government power supervising mechanism of Truong Thi Hong Ha; "Supervision at the meeting of the People's Council - Issues to be considered to improve the quality and efficiency of the activities of the People's Council" by Nguyen Khac Bo, etc 1.2 Overview of main findings from published works related to the topic and research gap 1.2.1 Overview of main findings of published works related to the topic Firstly, analyze and contribute to clarify the supervisory functions of elected bodies The supervisory activities focus on issues that real life requires, the society cares about and becomes more public and transparent Secondly, assert government power is a very important issue; government power control is a system of mechanisms implemented by the government and society to keep the exercise of government power for the right purpose and effectively Thirdly, affirm that the supervisory activities of National Assembly, Agencies of the National Assembly, the NA representatives, People's Council, committees of the People's Council, members of the People's Council recently achieved many important results Fourthly, specify the results of the supervisory activities of National Assembly, People's Council which has had a positive impact, contributing to timely detection and remediation of shortcomings and limitations in both legal policy and management organization in which it has contributed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government management Fifthly, the research works initially mentioned theoretical and practical issues about supervisory activities of the Vietnamese NA representatives, outlined the definitions and factors affecting the effectiveness of supervisory activities of the NA representatives 1.2.2 Research gap Firstly, the thesis needs to analyze and clarify the theoretical basis, practical basis and legal basis of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities; clarifying the role and meaning of the NA representatives; identify the object, content, and process of supervisory activities of the NA representatives; the scope of duties and powers of the NA representatives in the process of implementing the supervising function; conditions to ensure the supervisory activities of the NA representatives Secondly, the thesis is responsible for analyzing and evaluating the current status of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities since the 2003 Law on supervisory activities of the National Assembly which was implemented, focuses on the period since the 2015 Law on supervision activities of National Assembly and People's Council (Law No 87/2015/QH13) takes effect Thirdly, based on the theoretical basis and from the current status of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities, it is to propose the points of view and solutions to enhance the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities in the future Conclusion of chapter The research works have mentioned quite comprehensively about the supervisory activities of National Assembly and the NA representatives from different aspects, initially presented the theoretical and legal basis for the role of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities; assessed, compared the status of supervisory activities of parliamentarians in some countries in the world with the Vietnamese NA representatives; proposed a number of solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives However, the supervisory activities of the NA representatives has not been studied in depth by the authors in terms of theory and practice, especially the author has not given comprehensive and synchronous solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Vietnamese NA representatives’supervisory activities Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE ON SUPERVISORY ACTIVITIES OF THE VIETNAMESE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS 2.1 Concept and role of supervisory activities of National Assembly members 2.1.1 Concept of supervision and superviosry activities of National Assembly members 2.1.1.1 Concept of supervision Supervision is a basic function of the National Assembly, which is the monitoring, review and evaluation of the activities of the agencies, organizations and individuals under the supervision, in compliance with the Constitution and the law about the performance of their duties and rights, handling according to their competence or request, proposal to the competent authority to handle 2.1.1.2 Supervisory activities and supervisory rights of National Assembly members - Supervisory activities of NA representatives The NA’s supervisory acitivities are mainly implemented through activities of each NA member The NA member is an independent supervisory subject, monitoring the subjects, specific issues with specific supervisory activities and forms Supervision of NA member is concretized by the supervisory acitivities or in other words, in order to exercise its supervisory rights, the NA member carries out the supervisory acitivities according to the provisions of law - Supervisory rights of NA representatives Supervisory rights of NA representatives are the rights to monitor, review and evaluate the activities of agencies, organizations and individuals in the implementation of the Constitution, laws, resolutions, ordinances and the handling of related issues in accordance with its authority to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the citizens, the society and the nation 2.1.2 The role of National Assembly representatives’ supervisory activities 2.1.2.1 Supervision to perform the role of power representative of the citizens The NA representatives’s supervisory activities has an important political basis derived from the voter's authorization The NA representatives are the people who on behalf of the citizens control the activities of government agencies and the people responsible in the government apparatus, ensuring that government power belongs to the citizens, by the citizens and for the citizens 2.1.2.2 Supervision to contribute to government power control All supervisory activities of NA, the Standing Committee of the NA, the Ethnic Council, the Committees of the NA are implemented by each NA member The supervisory activities of NA representatives make an important contribution to the control of government power, monitoring, review and inspection of the exercise of power by agencies in the government apparatus 2.1.2.3 Supervision to contribute to public management control The NA is one of the subjects that controls the public management by exercising the supervisory rights The supervisory activity of NA, in general, and the NA representatives, in particular, is one of the important elements in controlling public management in all modern administrations 2.1.2.4 Supervision to complement legislative action Legislature and supervision are the basic functions of National Assembly If the legislature aims to plan and decide national policies, the supervision is the assurance that the policies made and decided by the National Assembly to be implemented and complied in real life in accordance with the goals set by the lawmakers, to ensure the will, interests and power of the voters they represent 2.2 Content, process and conditions to ensure the supervisory activities of National Assembly representatives 2.2.1 Contents of National Assembly members’s supervisory activities 2.2.1.1 Questioning The Constitution stipulates that questioning is a form of direct and disseminated supervision by the National Assembly, and is the right of the NA representatives The questioning is the personal right of NA representatives, but when exercising this right, it is considered as one of the National Assembly’s supervisory activities This can be considered as the most powerful, convenient, easy-to-use supervisory tool and very suitable for the current operating conditions of the NA representatives 2.2.1.2 The supervision of legal normative documents The supervision of legal normative documents is understood as a form of supervision through which supervising entities consider whether the legal documents issued by the Government, the Prime Minister, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, People's Councils, and People's Committees of provinces and municipalities have signs of contravention of the Constitution, laws or resolutions of the National Assembly Since then, they have the specific measures such as: "the decision to repeal part or the whole of the document" The supervision of legal normative documents is one of the activities carried out by the National Assembly to protect the supremacy of the Constitution and legal documents issued by the National Assembly and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly 2.2.1.3 The supervision of law enforcement The supervision of law enforcement of the NA representatives is a thematic supervisory activity, that is the NA representatives’s monitoring, reviewing, evaluating issues or activities of agencies, organizations and individuals under supervision in compliance with the Constitution and local laws The NA representatives have the right to supervise all matters related to the implementation of the Constitution, laws, resolutions and activities of any government agencies, organizations and citizens in the locality The NA representatives can implement the supervisory activities in a number of fields and for necessary cases 2.2.1.4 The supervision of the resolution of citizens' complaints, denunciations and petitions The NA representatives are responsible for organizing to meet citizens, supervising agencies, organizations and individuals with competence in the settlement of complaints, denunciations and petitions of citizens At the same time, the NA representatives have the right to request related agencies, organizations and individuals or complainants, denunciators, petitioners to present and provide relevant information and documents; consider and verify the issues that the NA representatives are interested in 2.2.2 Process of National Assembly members’s supervisory activities The NA representatives exercise the right of supervision in many different forms such as: participating in supervisory activities of the Representatives of NA representatives in the locality; join the supervisory team of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Ethnic Council, the Committees of the National Assembly at the locality as requested; self-conduct the supervisory activities in the forms of: questioning at the National Assembly session or the session of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in the period between the two sessions; supervising the law enforcement in the locality, overseeing the resolutions of citizens’complaints, denunciations, petitions, supervising the legal normative documents, etc For each form of supervision, the law has regulations on specific process and procedures On that basis, NA representatives can choose and decide on the most active and flexible implementation of supervisory activities, depending on their operating conditions 2.2.3 Conditions to ensure the supervisory activities of National Assembly members In order for the National Assembly and the NA representatives to fulfill their roles and missions, to exercise the powers prescribed by law including the supervisory rights, it should have the necessary conditions to ensure the supervisory activities of the NA representatives to be executed effectively These conditions are: political guarantees; electoral regime; the way of designing the Government apparatus organization; the assurance of the NA representatives’s independence; legal guarantees; assurance of NA representatives’s supervisory capacity At the same time, the supervisory activities of the NA representatives are influenced by factors such as: the expert and assisting apparatus; information sources; facilities, finance, etc 2.3 Supervisory activities of parliamentarians in some countries around the world and experiences for Vietnam 2.3.1 Supervisory activities of parliamentarians in some countries around the world 2.3.1.1 The concept of the supervisory role and regulation of the supervisory activities of parliamentarians The countries around the world generally highly respect the role and meaning of legislative activities in general and the supervisory activities in particular, including the supervisory activities of parliamentarians Laws on parliament of some countries all have general provisions on the supervisory activities of the parliament and the subjects in the system of parliamentary organization, including the committees and parliamentarians The legal provisions about the supervisory activities of parliamentarians are recorded in the Constitution, the law of the National Assembly and other sub-law documents 2.3.1.2 The supervisory activities of parliamentarians - Questioning activities Parliaments of countries that follow a parliamentary democratic system all stipulate a form of questioning or inquiry or both to debate the general operation of the Government The questioning is intended to provide information and is an opportunity for parliamentarians to argue and criticize the activities of the executive bodies Some debates may end with a vote of the confidence that Congress gives to Government - Documentary supervision The National Assembly of many countries such as the US, Canada, France and the National Assembly of Nordic countries have specific provisions on the amendment and cancellation of sub-law documents which are contrary to the law of the National Assembly and the provision of responsibility for reviewing and systematizing, controlling the consistency of sub-law documents in the general legal system The supervision of legal documents are promulgated under authorization in the UK The original laws often provide the permission for Ministers and other authorities to issue specific, administrative regulations - The processing of citizens 'petition letters and monitoring, supervising the processing of citizens' letters The parliament of many countries establishes the Committee of People’s aspirations (such as the German parliament) or an inspection agency of the National Assembly (the Denmark National Assembly) The Committees that are responsible for the citizens’s complaints and denunciations resolve the citizens’s complaints to the government agencies about improper or unfair decisions, but sometimes also deal with proposals of citizens 2.3.1.3 About concurrent activities of parliamentarians In order to ensure that parliamentarians carry out the supervisory activities in a fair and objective manner, not dominated by different interest groups and influences, the laws of many countries allow parliamentarians to work concurrently in other occupations but regulations are quite strictly attached to conditions 2.3.1.4 Regarding the proportion of party members in the National Assembly For countries where the Party is the only force to take over the society, it is a matter of principle to ensure that the number of NA representatives who are the Party members is always the majority However, in order for the supervisory activities of NA representatives to become proactive, conduct its work objectively, independently and effectively, many countries pay special attention to the proportion of party members in the NA 2.3.1.5 Regarding the consideration and handling of the implementation of the responsibilities and duties of the parliamentarians In countries such as China, Japan, Singapore, etc., it is very important to consider and evaluate the supervisory activities of agencies and individual parliamentarians, especially strictly handling the responsibility for the agency or individual performing the supervisory function Accordingly, for agencies and individuals that are responsible for supervising but not perform the supervisory activities well or lack responsibility will be prosecuted and handled On the contrary, if the supervisory activities are well implemented, parliamentarians are recognized, commended and rewarded both physically and mentally 2.3.1.6 Regarding the education, the improvement of qualifications and understanding of the National Assembly In order to have the institutional capacity for the citizens in general and the NA representatives in particular, many countries have an education and communication strategy through providing different subjects with knowledge on issues related to politics, the state, the law and certain understandings about democracy, rights and obligations of citizens 2.3.2 International experience in supervisory activities of National Assembly members Firstly, defining the supervision as a basic function of the National Assembly, exercising legislative power to control executive power; it should have strict regulations related to the supervisory activities of parliamentarians Secondly, the supervisory activities such as questioning, supervising the documents, resolving complaints, denunciations and recommendations of citizens are implemented with many different forms and measures to collect information and make recommendations and arguement to the Government Thirdly, allow parliamentarians to maintain their own careers (except for politicians such as Ministers, Prime Ministers, parliamentarians who not concurrently hold positions in the executive apparatus, judiciary or agencies and enterprises using government budget capital) Fourthly, focus on using the parliamentarians' assisting staff and the means of media and communication Fifthly, strictly implement the review and evaluation of the parliamentarians' supervisory activities, clearly define the responsibilities of agencies and individuals Sixthly, increase education, improve qualifications and understanding of the National Assembly In addition, other contents such as the proportion of party members in the National Assembly in Singapore, the combination of the supervision of government agencies with the one of party agencies and the supervision of the citizens in China have reference value for the NA of Vietnam Conclusion of chapter The supervisory activities of the NA representatives are that the NA representatives carry out specific activities to monitor, review and evaluate the implementation of the tasks of government agencies at the central level and individuals elected and approved by the National Assembly As one of the subjects of the supervisory activities, NA representatives participates in the supervisory activities along with other bodies or conducts the independent supervisory activities, as a premise for the supreme supervisory activities of the National Assembly As an individual, the NA representatives can conduct the supervisory activities, including questioning, supervising legal normative documents, monitoring the implementation of the law in the locality, supervising the resolution of citizens' complaints, denunciations and petitions In order for the NA representatives to fulfill their roles, missions and powers, including the supervisory rights, it should have the necessary guarantee conditions Through the study of the supervisory activities of the National Assembly and parliamentarians in a number of countries, it shows that although there are differences between the National Assembly’s and parliamentarians' supervisory activities in such countries compared with ones in Vietnam, their experiences still have reference value for supervisory activities of the NA representatives of Vietnam Chapter ACTUAL SUPERVISORY ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS OF VIETNAM AT THE PRESENT 3.1 Overview of the organizational structure of the National Assembly and Vietnamese National Assembly members at the present 3.1.1 Organizational structure of Vietnamese National Assembly The National Assembly comprises the following agencies: the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; the Ethnic Council; the Law Committee; the Judicial Committee; the Economic Committee; the Finance and Budget Committee; the National Defense and Security Committee; the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children; the Social Affairs Committee; the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment; the Foreign Relations Committee; Group of NA representatives; the Secretary General of the National Assembly; the National Assembly Office; the Agencies of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (Board of Deputies ‘Affairs, Board of People’s aspirations , Legislative Research Institute) 3.1.2 The Vietnamese National Assembly members The NA representatives of Vietnam are the persons who are directly voted by voters in accordance with the common and equal principles and secret suffrage The elected members are responsible to the voters who have voted for them and to the all voters throughout the country Composition of the NA representatives in the sessions: NA session No XI XII XIII XIV Total number of members Person 498 493 500 494 Members who come from ethnic minorities Person 86 87 78 86 % 17,3 17,7 15,6 17,3 Female members Person 136 127 122 133 % 27,3 25,8 24,4 26,8 Members who are nonparty members Person 50 43 42 21 Young members (under the age of 40) % Person 10,2 56 8,7 68 8,4 62 4,2 71 % 11,2 13,8 12,4 14,3 Members who have university degree or higher Person 465 473 491 488 Re-elected members % Person 93,4 135 96,0 136 98,2 167 98,8 160 3.2 Results achieved and limitations in the supervisory activities of the Vietnamese National Assembly members at the present 3.2.1 Questioning In the recent time, the supervisory activities of the NA representatives by the form of questioning has continuously been reformed and improved and become a form to control powers effectively Not only the number of questioning queries have been asked more and more; the time of questioning sessions have been extended more than in a past; but also the platforms which are organized for NA representatives to exercise their right of questioning are more diversified, abundant; simultaneously, the debatability in questioning activities become more and more intensified Nevertheless, the questioning activities of the NA representatives still have the specific limitations and inadequacies such as: Firstly, the contents of many questioning queries given by NA representatives are still limited; some NA representatives have asked the queries which are beyond the scope of questioning and the queries still overlap in term of content, does not go directly to the focus of the questioning matters Secondly, there is a difference of the activeness in the questioning activities between the full-time NA representatives and concurrent NA representatives among concurrent NA representatives in different professions and fields Thirdly, many pressing practical issues asked by the NA representatives have not been received true and satisfactory answers Fourthly, the "post-questioning" issue still has "gaps" This is the most important and practical issue that the NA representatives, the voters and the citizens of the country expect, require the “follow-up action” of NA % 27,1 27,6 33,4 32,3 representatives to fulfill the promises, commitments and explanations given by the persons responsible to answer about the matters put out by the NA representatives 3.2.2 Supervision of the issuance of legal normative documents During the recent time, particular since the beginning of National Assembly session XIV until now, the NA representatives through the Committees of the NA have focused on the supervision of the issuance of documents, stipulating the details and instructing the implementation of the laws enacted by the National Assembly The supervision of legal documents has been strictly implemented in accordance with the Law on Organization of the National Assembly, the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People’s Councils, the Law on issuance of Legal normative documents; and the agencies of the National Assembly have actively included in their duties the supervision of legal documents concerning the fields they are in charge of In addition to the positive results achieved, there are some limitations to the supervision of legal documents of NA representatives such as: Firstly, the provisions of the laws concerning the supervision of legal documents of the NA representatives are not actually appropriate Secondly, the supervision of legal normative documents which is stipulated by the law as a special supervisory activity (similar to other activities) are not organized to perform frequently and independently Thirdly, the supervisory activities of legal documents have not been implemented in an effective manner, even when the NA representatives participate in this activity with other subjects (who are the members of the Group of NA representatives, the Committees of the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly) 3.2.3 Supervision of the law enforcement The supervision of the law enforcement by the NA representatives in the locality is one of the supervisory activities performed by the NA representatives in the capacity of an independent supervisory subject However, there are many difficulties in this activity, which has not been conducted in a popular manner in the locality and is subject to many limitations such as: Firstly, the NA representatives have not actively and actively developed and implemented the program of supervising the law enforcement in the locality Secondly, the supervision of law enforcement by the NA representatives in the locality overlaps in terms of the scope, contents and form with the supervisory activities of the Group of NA representatives, People’s Councils at the different levels and the People’s Council members at the different levels Thirdly, the law only stipulates the authority of the NA representatives but has not specified the conditions to ensure the effective and favorable implementation of the authority 3.2.4 Supervision of the resolution of complaints, denunciations, and recommendations of citizens In general, most of the NA representatives have made the best efforts to complete their duties and tasks, receive ideas and recommendations from voters, help the voters to exercise their right to complain and denounce Simultaneously, the NA representatives have actively monitored, reviewed, evaluated the activities of the agencies in charge of settling citizens’ complaints and denunciations to determine whether they are complying with the Constitution and law on performing their duties and powers or not However, in reality, the supervision of the resolution of voters’ complaints, denunciations and recommendations has the certain limitations such as: Firstly, most of the NA representatives only forward the files and send letters to remind or urge the settlement of the files, and rarely follow and monitor the case to the end Secondly, there are limitations and inadequacies in deploying the implementation of supervision of the resolution of complaint, denunciation and recommendation of voters Furthermore, the provisions of the law have not clearly specified the authority of the NA representatives in supervising each specific issue 3.3 Relevant matters relating to the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members at the present 3.3.1 Supervisory competence, process and procedure of the National Assembly members are not actually suitable to the features of the Vietnamese National Assembly Basically, the current law has sufficient stipulations on the supervisory activities of the NA representatives However, there are limitations, inadequacies and issues relating to legality in the supervisory competence as well as the law on the process and procedures in the supervisory activities, which need to remedy and resolve 3.3.2 Incompatibility between the supervisory competence of the National Assembly members and the requirements, duties, powers and responsibilities of National Assembly members In order for the NA representatives to perform their duties in general and the supervisory activities in particular, the NA representatives are required to have a certain education level, professional qualification, sufficient competence, health, experience and prestige in related fields to perform the duties of an NA member Nevertheless, in reality, the education level and professional qualification of many members are still be limited; their supervisory skills are still lacked and their prestige is not high enough; so citizens not put much expectation in their representatives 3.3.3 Incompatibility between the related duties and interests in the provisions concerning the conditions, facilities and assistant staff for the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members To conduct supervisory activities, the NA representatives need to be provided with a sea of information However, the contents of the information provided by the advisory bodies and assisting agencies of National Assembly are mainly taken from the sources of research of the Government, other agencies and organizations The National Assembly’s information and research agencies mainly play a key role in providing information, but has not really studied and published, provided the research documents to ensure the objectivity and independence of the National Assembly, helping the NA representatives to get accurate and timely information The current assisting apparatus of the National Assembly and the group of NA representatives is mainly to support the operation of the collective structures in the National Assembly, including: the National Assembly Office, the Secretariat to assist the National Assembly, the agencies of National Assembly, the Office of NA representatives group to assist the group of NA representatives, so it lacks an assisting apparatus for the individual activities of the NA representatives, especially the supervisory activities Although the law has the sufficient stipulations on the financial regime of the NA representatives in the supervisory activities However, in reality, the financial regime for the supervisory activities of the NA representatives are not specified clearly; there is no regulation on payment regime for the supervisory activities of the NA representatives in the capacity of an independent supervisory subject; remunerations for experts and assistant staff have not met the requirements Conclusion of Chapter There have been positive changes in the supervisory activities of the NA in general and of the NA representatives in particular in the recent time Together with the process to complete the provisions of the laws on the organization and operation of the NA, the legal provisions on the supervisory activities of the NA representatives continue to be revised, supplemented and improved There have been many innovations both in content, process and methods of implementation, thereby, the effectiveness and efficiency of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives have been gradually raised In addition to the achieved results, the practice of the supervisory activities of the NA in recent years still has some limitations and inadequacies that need to be further overcome and resolved The status of the factors that ensure the supervisory activities of the NA is also the main cause leading to the limitations and inadequacies in the supervisory activities of the NA Chapter VIEWPOINTS AND SOLUTIONS TO ENHANCE THE SUPERVISORY ACTIVITIES OF VIETNAMESE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS 4.1 Viewpoints to enhance the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members 4.1.1 Enhance the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members based on the Party’s viewpoints about the reform and improvement of a government which is of the people, by the people, and for the people The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a socialist rule of law government of the People, by the People, and for the People The People exercise their Government power in the form of direct democracy and representative democracy through the National Assembly The Communist Party of Vietnam is the vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, the working people, and the whole nation; a loyal representative of the interests of the working class, the working people, and the whole nation Thus, renew organization and activities of the National Assembly, the National Assembly agencies and the NA representatives, in which the supervisory activities of NA representatives must base on the viewpoints of the Party about the reform and improvement of a Government of the People, by the People, and for the People 4.1.2 Enhance the supervisory activities of the NA representatives with a process of institutionalization and improvement of the Constitution, the law The Constitution, the law is the legal foundation for the supervisory activities of the National Assembly and NA representatives All the supervisory activities of NA representatives shall comply with the provisions of the Constitution and law, especially the provisions of the 2013 Constitution about a socialist rule of the law Government, as well as the 2015 Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and the People’s Councils concerning the supervisory activities of NA representatives For this reason, the enhancement of the supervisory activities of NA representatives and the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of the supervisory activities of NA representatives is required to ensure the compliance with the general spirit of the Constitution, the law during the process of regulation’s amendment, modification, institutionalization and improvement of the Constitution and law 4.1.3 Enhance of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives which must base on the practical situation of Vietnam in combination of the selected acceptance of experiences from other countries in the world In comparison with Vietnam, the supervisory activities by the parliaments of other countries in the world have differences, but the experiences of other nations are a reference value for the supervisory activities of the NA representatives of our country For this reason, the enhancement of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives should be based on the practical situation of Vietnam in combination of the selected reception of experiences from other countries in the world 4.2 Solutions to enhance the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members 4.2.1 Enhance the leadership of the Party for the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members The supreme supervisory activities of the National Assembly, in general, and the supervisory activities of the National Assembly agencies and NA representatives, in particular, must comply with the principle to ensure the leadership of the Communist Party To ensure the supervisory activities of the NA representatives to be effective and efficient, it is necessary to renew the leadership of the Party in the following directions: enhancing the responsibilities of the National Assembly’s Party committee, and arranging a reasonable number of the NA representatives who are Party members 4.2.2 Continue the reforming, enacting and concretizing the provisions of the laws concerning the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members in order to determine clearly, specifically the supervisory scope, power and subject It is necessary to make amendment and improvement about the supervisory scope of the NA representatives Narrowing the supervisory scope of a NA representatives is necessary, which does not only ensure the feasibility of the laws but is also suitable to the common viewpoints about supervisory activities of other worldwide countries’ the parliaments, and at the same time, it will ensure the control activities of the power will not overlap, coincide with each other, causing resources to be squandered It is necessary to make amendment and improvement about the supervisory activities of the NA representatives such as the activities of questioning, supervising of legal documents, supervising of the settlement of complaints, denunciations and recommendation of citizens, and supervising the law enforcement in the locality 4.2.3 Renew the regime of multiple office holding, mechanism for election of NA representatives and strengthening the relationship between NA representatives and voters It is necessary to renew the regime of multiple office holding of NA representatives in the spirit: Any member who holds many offices at the same time is required to have sufficient time to perform his representative duties and other tasks delegated by his voters The NA representatives’ regime for multiple office holding must ensure to settle the conflicts of interests, disagreement in overlapping relationships between the supervising body and the supervised body… The vote of the NA representatives must meet the basic requirements such as: The vote regime shall ensure selection of competent members who will devote all their times and efforts to the parliamentary activities when they are selected into the National Assembly; and such vote regime shall ensure NA representatives will not be governed over by the interests of the central government and their local governments NA representatives are required to have a closer and intimate relationship with the People so that they can understand the needs and requests of the People, fulfil their duties as representative for the voice, will and aspiration of the voters of the whole country It is necessary to renew the contents and form of NA representatives contacting their voters; furthermore, it is necessary to establish the process, procedure and condition for voters to exercise the right to dismiss members of the National Assembly who are not prestige 4.2.4 Train and foster the ability and quality for the National Assembly members To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives, the selection of sufficient competent NA representatives to represent the People in participating in making decisions of the significant issues of the country is very important and decisive For this purpose, it is necessary to train and foster NA representatives to enhance their professional qualification, in which it is necessary to focus on the improvement from initial selection steps of NA representatives, enhance the responsibility of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in providing training and fostering courses to National Assembly members, enhance the quality of education and communication about National Assembly To improve the skills of supervisory activities for NA representatives, the following measures should be used: to increase the percentage of re-voted members; to foster the skills of supervision activities for NA representatives; it is necessary to determine which skills of supervisory activities are essential for NA representatives Improving the prestige of the NA representatives is important base to create the belief on the side of voters and those who are subject to the supervision 4.2.5 Strengthen the number of expert, assisting apparatus, information provision and financial resources to support the supervisory activities of National Assembly members It is necessary to separate personal activities of NA representatives from the activities of the National Assembly and the collective National Assembly, on the basis of which, an assisting apparatus for the NA representatives will be formed In addition to the strengthening the common assistance teams of the National Assembly and agencies of the National Assembly in the Office of the National Assembly and the Office of the NA representatives’ Delegations in locality, within the scope permissible by law, it is also necessary to devise a new activity mechanism and development policy to the advisory team who provide assistance to each NA member It is also necessary to enhance the sources to provide assistant information for the supervisory activities of the NA representatives The enhancement of finance resources to support for the supervisory activities of the NA representatives is one of the important factors for NA representatives to be able to perform their duties and tasks in an objective manner, impartially and effectively 4.2.6 Enhance the cooperation between the supervisory activities of the National Assembly members and the supervisory activities of the Government Agencies, the Party, and the People In our country, the mechanism “Party’s leadership, Government’s management, and the People’s mastery” is applied The government powers are unified and there is assignment, coordination and control between the offices in the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary powers Thus, for the effectiveness and suitability of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives in this practical situation, it is necessary to have a close cooperation between the supervisory activities of the National Assembly, the NA representatives and the inspection activities of the Government, supervisory activities of judiciary agencies, the Party, the Fatherland Front, political and social organizations and the People’s supervision Conclusion of Chapter With the aim to enhance the effectiveness and validity of supervisory activities of the NA representatives, it is important to clearly understand and implement the following basic viewpoints: The enhancement of the supervisory activities of NA representatives should be based on the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Vietnam about the reform, improvement of a socialist rule of the law government of the People, by the People, and for the People; supervisory activities of NA representatives should be attached to the concretization and improvement of the Constitution and law based on the practical situation of Vietnam in combination of a selected reception of parliamentary experiences from other countries in the world The above viewpoints give an orientation for the proposal of solutions to improve the effectiveness of the supervisory activities of the NA representatives in the coming time Those must be solutions of assurance of politics, legalities, increase of the knowledge, skills and prestige of NA representatives, enhancement of the coordination between the supervisory activities of the NA representatives and the inspective and supervisory activities of the Party and the People’s supervision FINAL CONCLUSION With the evaluation of international and domestic studies relating to this topic, the thesis has indicated the issues which needs further study and solution in future A National Assembly member is the representative for the will and desire of the People, who acts on behalf of the People in exercising supervisory activities and operation of Government agencies, contributing to the control of the government powers and the public management as well as complement of the legislature Supervisory activities of the NA representatives shall be conducted independently including the specific contents: questioning; supervision of the issuance of legal documents; supervision of the law enforcement; supervision of the settlement of complaints, denunciations and recommendation of citizens These activities are conducted in many different forms based on close process, procedure and depending upon certain conditions In reality, it shows that the supervisory activities of the Vietnamese NA representatives have achieved positive results in recent time, but still have limitations, insufficiency and issues which must be resolved The real status of the factors that ensure the success of supervisory activities of the NA representatives are also the basic causes resulting in the limitations to and insufficiency in supervisory activities of the NA representatives Thus, it is necessary to completely understand the viewpoints of the Party and to perform in a comprehensive manner all solutions in order to improve the quality of supervisory activities of the NA representatives, contribute to reform the National Assembly of Vietnam with more professional and effective operation RELATED WORKS Thai Ngoc Chau, “On the matters of supervision activites of National Assembly representatives to the implementation of policies and regulations on food safety”, Journal of Polical Science, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics – Academy of Politics Region II, No 8/2017 Thai Ngoc Chau, Tran Viet Quang (2020), “On the matters of State power and State power supervision in Vietnam today”, Journal of Philosophy, No 3/2020 Thai Ngọc Chau, Nguyen Thi My Huong, Nguyen Thi Diep (2020), “Improving quality of supervision activities of theVietnam national assembly”, European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Scientific journal, № 2020 ISSN 2414-2344, p.116-118, https://doi.org/10.29013/EJHSS-20-6-116-118 Thai Ngoc Chau, Vu Thi Phuong Le (2020) “Theory and philosophy of politics, history and methodology of political science”, European Journal of Law and Political Sciences Scientific journal, № 2020, ISSN 2310-5712, p.40-47, https://doi.org/10.29013/EJLPS-20-3-40-47 Thai Ngoc Chau, Dinh The Dinh, “The matter of State apparatus reform in V.I Lenin’s “Better Fewer, But Better”, Journal of Polical Science, No 10/2020 ... 2015 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on The review of supervision activities of the National Assembly over 10 years of implementation of the Law on supervision activities of the National. .. members of the Group of NA representatives, the Committees of the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly) 3.2.3 Supervision of the law enforcement The supervision of the. .. Committee; Group of NA representatives; the Secretary General of the National Assembly; the National Assembly Office; the Agencies of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (Board of Deputies