HANOI: Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was among preliminary nominations for the Communist Party's new central committee, an official said on Sunday, maintaining a possibility of him contesting a party leadership to be decided this week.
Dung was among several high-profile politburo members nominated to join the powerful committee, including the current president and the national assembly chairman, Vu Ngoc Hoang, standing Deputy Director of the Central Propaganda Department, told reporters on the sidelines of the party's five-yearly congress.
Though the nominations process is one of the earliest stages of the party's internal election, Dung's absence from nominations for the new central committee would have effectively closed off any path for him to become party chief, should he seek to contest the leadership. Dung, 66, has not stated publicly whether or not he will retire.
Dung, who has been widely credited with driving reforms in Vietnam, was not among the four nominations for four key leadership posts that were agreed at a recent meeting, which must be endorsed by the congress, a senior official said on Sunday.
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