(VOVworld) – The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism held an online conference in Hanoi on Thursday to gather opinions for the constitutional draft amendments and for the revised Land Law. Deputy Minister Huynh Vinh Ai said that to date, according to 40 compiled reports, the redrafting has solidified the Party’s views as set out in its political doctrines and those of the 11^th National Party Congress on the revision of the 1992 constitution. The draft amendment focuses on people’s democracy and their role in it. Le Van Duy, deputy chief of the representative office of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in Da Nang, said ‘we agree that the Communist Party of Vietnam, the leadership of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is essential and necessary. Article 4 shows that the Party’s thinking on renewal is in pursuance of the country’s current development. The point is that it’s necessary to clarify the mechanisms by which the people are able to supervise the Party’s leadership activities and for the Party to be responsible to the people for its decisions.’

The compiling board of the revised 1992 Constitution has issued a document on continuing to gather public opinions for the draft amendments. Under the plan, opinion collection will be held until the end of this month. Its outcomes will be submitted to the 5^th National Assembly session in May and approved at the 6^th session in October.  From the end of March till the end of September before the revised constitution is adopted, people still can contribute their opinions. Communications should clarify the content of the revised constitution so people can understand it thoroughly and avoid misconceptions that might weaken national solidarity.

Over the past two months, Can Tho city has collected feedback from local staff, Party members, and ordinary citizens. Tran Thanh Nghiep, President of the city’s Veterans’ Association, said that he didn’t ‘agree with the idea that the army should be non-political, as the purpose of a nation’s army is to protect the ruling regime. For instance, the Vietnam People’s Army is set up to protect Vietnamese socialism and the Communist Party of Vietnam.’

The southern province of Binh Duong has made opinion collection one of its key tasks. Nguyen Thanh, a local resident, has this to say ‘The 1992 constitution has made the nation strong. During the current international integration when foreign attraction needs to be focused, amendments to the Constitution are essential.’

Many people in Binh Duong agree that the Communist Party of Vietnam needs to affirm its comprehensive leadership in which the government is a body of the people, by the people, and for the people. They underlined the need to use the people’s state power through a representative democracy mechanism and direct democracy mechanism.