Government > Leaders Stats: compare key data on France & Vietnam

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STAT	France	Vietnam	HISTORY
Head of state > Term limit for head of state	5 Ranked 108th. The same as Vietnam	5 Ranked 57th.
President	Francois Hollande	Truong Tan Sang
President > Profile	<p>Francois Hollande beat the conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, in May 2012 to become France&#039;s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand held the post from 1981 to 1995.</p> <p>The standard-bearer of the right wing of the party, Mr Hollande saw off the more left-wing Martine Aubry in public primaries to become his party&#039;s presidential candidate.</p> <p>Despite his reputation as a moderate, Mr Hollande campaigned on strongly left-wing proposals, including a 75% top income tax rate, 60,000 new teachers, and the renegotiation of the European Union fiscal growth pact.</p> <p>His Socialists went on to won a comfortable majority in the June 2012 parliamentary elections, ensuring that President Hollande would not have to count on far-left or Green votes.</p> <p>But by the end of 2012, Mr Hollande&#039;s economic plans were in trouble, with growth stagnant and the continuing woes of the eurozone promising no relief.</p> <p>France continued to dip in an out of recession throughout the next year, and Mr Hollande&#039;s failure to make good on his promise to reduce unemployment by the end of 2013 left him with the lowest approval rating of any president since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.</p> <p>His decision to opt for raising taxes rather than cutting spending - an option unpopular with his natural supporters - has come close to triggering a taxpayers&#039; revolt.</p> <p>Mr Hollande has also come under pressure from Brussels, with the EU Commission urging France to reduce its budget deficit and bring down public spending - the highest per capita in Europe.</p> <p>His private life also threatened potential embarrassment after claims of an affair with actress Julie Gayet prompted media questions about his partner Valerie Trierweiler&#039;s status as first lady.</p> <p>On the international stage, Mr Hollande has taken a strong lead in pushing for a more interventionist approach towards shoring up states threatened with destabilisation. </p> <p>In January 2013, he sent troops to Mali to help government regain control over the north of the country from Islamist militants, and in December he deployed additional peacekeepers to the Central African Republic to help restore order after a rebel takeover.</p> <p>Born in 1954 in Rouen, Normandy, and a product of the &quot;grandes ecoles&quot; elite education system, Mr Hollande was an economic advisor to President Mitterrand, and became an MP in 1988.</p> <p>He rose to lead the party in the long years of opposition in 1997-2008, and stood down over a party row about the failed presidential campaign of his long-standing partner, Segolene Royal.</p> <p>Mr Hollande and Ms Royal later split up over his affair with journalist Valerie Trierweiler, now his partner.</p> <p>He emerged as the Socialist candidate after the favourite, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, saw his political career collapse in 2011 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.</p>	<p>Truong Tan Sang was elected to the largely ceremonial post of president in July 2011 with 97% of the vote in parliament.</p> <p>He is a former mayor and party chief in Ho Chi Minh City. Before becoming president he served as the de facto Number 2 in charge of the Communist Party, running its day-to-day affairs.</p> <p>Born in 1949, he was imprisoned from 1971-73 by the US-backed South Vietnamese government when he served as a communist fighter for the north during the Vietnam War. It ended in 1975 when the north seized control of the former southern capital, Saigon, reunifying the country.</p> <p>The prime minister runs the country&#039;s day-to-day operations. The National Assembly, or parliament, was viewed in the past as a rubber stamp that blindly passes the government&#039;s policies. In recent years, however, it has started to assert itself more. </p>
President > Summary	Mr Hollande&#039;s tax rises have met with fierce resistance	Truong Tan Sang was a senior figure in the Communist Party before becoming president
Prime minister	Jean-Marc Ayrault	Nguyen Tan Dung
Prime minister > Profile	<p>Jean-Marc Ayrault, a long-standing ally of President Hollande, is a veteran leader of the Socialists&#039; parliamentary bloc and mayor of Nantes. The premiership is his first senior government post. </p> <p>He has a reputation as a calm consensus-builder. Mr Ayrault is a German-speaker, seen as an asset for the president in handling France&#039;s relationship with Germany. </p>	<p>Nguyen Tan Dung was elected to the post by parliament in 2006 and re-elected in July 2011, at the recommendation of the Communist Party. </p> <p>The former Viet Cong communist guerrilla and one-time central bank governor is considered a reformer, but Vietnam - one of the fastest growing countries in Asia - has struggled with economic woes during his tenure. </p> <p>Correspondents say his record is mixed. He has been a strong supporter of state-owned conglomerates, such as the shipbuilding group Vinashin, which was revealed to be near bankruptcy in 2010 and restructured. </p> <p>He came under public pressure to resign after several top Vinashin officials were jailed for their roles in the scandal, but he was spared disciplinary action by the Communist Party.</p> <p>Private economists generally deride his embrace of lumbering state firms, saying the sector warps the competitive environment, saps precious capital needed elsewhere and is a major source of economic inefficiencies.</p> <p>In June 2013, Mr Dung survived a no-confidence ballot in the national assembly, but with his position weakened after more than 30 per cent of its members voted against him.</p> <p>Under Nguyen Tan Dung&#039;s leadership, international human rights groups accuse Vietnam of taking a tougher stance against political dissidents, including those peacefully expressing their views online. The government does not tolerate any threat to its one-party rule, and people can be jailed for publicly calling for a multiparty system.</p>
Prime minister > Summary	Jean-Marc Ayrault was elected as prime minister in May 2012	Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is into his second term

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