Tô Lâm

Tô Lâm (Vietnamese: [tō lʌ̄m] ; born 10 July 1957) is a Vietnamese politician and former police officer who since 2024 has served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the highest-ranked position of the Vietnamese politics, and as the current President of Vietnam since 2026. He previously served as president from May to October 2024. A veteran of the People's Public Security Forces with over 40 years of service, Lâm rose through the ranks to become Minister of Public Security in 2016, a position he held until his first election to the presidency in 2024.

Lâm became a member of the CPV on 22 August 1981. A graduate of the Central Police School and the Vietnam People's Security Academy, he spent his entire career in the police force. He holds the rank of four-star General in the Vietnam People's Public Security. He previously served as Head of the Central Highlands Steering Committee, Deputy Minister of Public Security, and Director-General of the MPS First General Department of Security. He has been a member of the CPV Central Committee since 2011 and a member of the CPV Politburo since 2016.

Lâm participated in the 2016 anti-corruption campaign launched by his predecessor, General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, which implicated some officials to a degree unprecedented in Vietnamese political history. Since Trọng's death in July 2024, Lâm has run the Central Steering Committee on Anti-corruption and the Central Military Commission. Lâm is alleged to have led a campaign against dissidents, suppressed civil society organizations, and tightened internet censorship. Since beginning his tenure as general secretary, Lâm has pursued administrative and bureaucratic restructuring.

On 18 May 2024, he was nominated by the CPV Central Committee to become Vietnam's 13th president, succeeding Võ Văn Thưởng, who resigned in March 2024 due to the anti-corruption campaign. The National Assembly relieved Lâm of his ministerial post before the presidential election, and his protégé Lương Tam Quang was appointed public security minister in June 2024. On 3 August 2024, following the death of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Lâm was elected CPV General Secretary and Secretary of the Central Military Commission by the 13th Central Committee. As a result, he resigned the presidency and was replaced by Lương Cường, who would become the last of four presidents for the 2021–2026 term.