Deputies attend the 3rd session of the 15th National Assembly (Photo: quochoi.vn)

A desire for democracy is clearly reflected in President Ho Chi Minh’s thought. The ideology of true democracy deems that all power belonging to the people and sees democracy as an effective way to bring freedom, happiness, and sufficiency to the people and prosperity and stability to the nation.

Upholding President Ho Chi Minh’s thought, the Communist Party of Vietnam has been consistent in its view on building a socialist democracy and ensuring the people's right to mastery.

Continuously fine tuning the law on grassroots democracy

To specify the Party’s orientation and policy on promoting the people’s right to mastery, successive Constitutions of Vietnam have refined the legal framework for implementing democracy to ensure more democracy at the grassroots level. Based on the Constitution, the Politburo, the National Assembly Standing Committee, and the Government have issued directives, ordinances, resolutions, and decrees on formulating and implementing democratic regulations at the grassroots level, affirming the motto "people know, people discuss, people do, people oversee".

These documents are legal tools for implementing democracy at the grassroots level, giving people the right to know about issues related to their socio-economic situation, the right to discuss and vote for competent authorities to decide important local issues, the right to oversee anything publicized for the public, contribute ideas, discuss, and directly decide public issues.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said: “The documents regulate democracy implementation at the grassroots level and ensure implementation of the Party and State policy "people know, people discuss, people do, people oversee". They have created a legal basis for exercising the right to mastery of ordinary people, cadres, civil servants, and state employees.”

Global integration and social innovation require giving the law on grassroots democracy a broader scope and more specific and effective articles of regulation.

Hoang Thanh Tung, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Law Committee (photo: quochoi.vn)

Hoang Thanh Tung, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Law Committee, said: “The promulgation of the Law on implementing democracy at the grassroots level institutionalizes the policy of practicing and widely promoting socialist democracy, the people's right to mastery, and the people’s subjectivity under the motto “people know, people discuss, people do, people oversee”. It effectively implements direct democracy, representative democracy, and democracy at the grassroots level which have been emphasized in documents of the 13th National Party Congress, and specifies the people’s right to mastery, human rights, and the fundamental rights and duties of citizens mentioned in the 2013 Constitution.”

Ensuring effective enforcement of democratic institutions

The draft law has expanded its scope to cover three main groups: communes, wards, townships, and residential communities of a communal administrative unit; agencies and non-business units of the Party, State, and socio-political organizations; and enterprises.

The draft law supplements a number of provisions on the implementation of democracy at the grassroots level, such as the right to complain, initiate lawsuits, and denounce law violations and stipulates sanctions to punish violations for each group of subjects and violations.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said: “The draft law expands the scope of information disclosure at the communal level in line with the Law on Information Access and other laws, diversifies forms of information disclosure at the commune level, adds a number of new forms, such as posting information on portals and websites and organizing conferences, exchanges, and dialogues between communal People's Committees and the people, and adds regulations on proposed initiatives.”

Within enterprises, employees are able to decide the level of contributions to social and charity funds and specify the contents, forms, orders, and procedures for oversight.

Promoting democracy is a strategic matter affecting national development. The draft Law on implementing democracy at the grassroots level is of great importance in ensuring the people's right to mastery, human rights, and perfecting the socialist state governed by law.