Results of Vietnam’s nationwide legislative body election on May 22 were announced Thursday afternoon by the National Election Council.

Every five years, eligible voters across Vietnam take part in a national election to select members for the country’s lawmaking National Assembly, as well as local-level People’s Councils.

The election results were released at 3:00 pm on Thursday by the National Election Council.

According to Chief of the National Election Council Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc, over 67 million voters cast their ballot in this year’s election, accounting for 99.35 percent of the country’s electorate.

Four hundred and ninety-six candidates acquired enough valid votes to hold office as National Assembly members, four short of the 500-seat quota set out before the election, according to the National Election Council.

For the local-level People’s Councils, 3,908 people were elected into office for provincial People’s Councils (eight short); 25,179 for district-level People’s Councils (120 short); and 291,273 for commune-level People’s Councils (6,026 short).

Of the 496 elected National Assembly members, 86 were of ethnic minorities, 133 were women, 71 were under the age of 40, 317 were first-time legislative office holders, and two were self-nominated candidates.

This year’s election results also set a new record for the percentage of Party members holding seats in the legislature, with 475 National Assembly members affiliated with the Communist Party of Vietnam, accounting for 95.8 percent of its total 496 deputies.

Nearly 100 members of the Party Central Committee were elected into office, 19 of whom were members of the Politburo, the all-powerful body.

Incumbent Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was elected with the highest percentage of votes, at 99.48 percent of all valid ballots in his constituency.

The report by the National Election Council underscored the crucial role of the election’s success in the implementation of the resolution of the 12^th Party Congress in January.

Several shortcomings of this year’s election were also pointed out in the report, including the shortage of lawmakers and members of local-level People’s Councils, the negative public opinion given rise to by the elimination of some self-nominated candidates, and the act of voting on behalf of others that occurred in some places.

The 496 newly elected National Assembly members will hold office for the 2016-2021 term, and are expected to convene their first congress on July 20.

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