Vietnam parliament re-elects president

President Nguyen Minh Triet is re-elected on Tuesday by the country's lawmaking national assembly.

President Nguyen Minh Triet, who last month became the first Vietnamese head of state to visit the United States, was re-elected on Tuesday by the country's lawmaking national assembly.

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Triet, 64, the sole presidential candidate, won nearly 99 per cent of the votes cast by 493 newly elected legislators, said Vu Duc Manh, Director of the National Assembly's Information Center.

Triet, known for his tough stance on corruption, was elected president last year in a cabinet reshuffle that also saw fellow southerner Nguyen Tan Dung appointed as prime minister.

Last month, Triet became Vietnam's first president to visit the United States, amid a warming of relations between the former bitter foes since relations were normalized in 1995.

Triet was seen as instrumental in transforming rural southern Binh Duong province, where he used to be the Communist Party boss, into one of the most attractive places for foreign investment.

He was then appointed party boss for the southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City before being appointed president in June last year. In an address to the assembly Tuesday, Triet nominated Dung as the sole candidate for prime minister, Manh said.

Dung's candidacy was scheduled to be confirmed by the assembly Wednesday while his Cabinet was expected to be approved on August 2.