Story: Vietnam's National Election

The repetitive signs began immediately after I crossed the border from Cambodia in 2002. Always in a vertical orientation, Communist Red in color and hand painted, this propaganda usually depicted a smiling Ho Chi Minh or a dutiful citizen with a ballot box. Vietnam was preparing for elections and Ho Chi Minh would be proud.

Bac Ho, or “Uncle Ho,” as his fellow countrymen endearingly refer to him, fought for the independence of his country from the French and Americans until his death in 1969. The government has since elevated him to an almost cult-like status with huge, slightly smiling portraits gracing the exterior of many buildings. His preserved body is even on display in a granite mausoleum in Hanoi complete with military guards in dress whites. Ho Chi Minh led his country to independence from their distant colonial oppressors thinking that Vietnam needed a local government representative of its people under the ideals of communism.

National elections in Vietnam happen on the anniversary of Bac Ho’s birthday, May 19th. Voting is mandatory for the population of the country, though no one that I questioned had made the effort even when there was the potential for legal ramifications. At the time I was traveling in the far northern region of the country near China, an area populated mostly with ethnic minorities who were concerned even less with the election’s outcome and definitely hadn’t voted. All candidates were from the Communist Party and there were enough of them to fill a full page in the Hanoi newspaper with little thumbnail portraits and short bios. Every face had a serious, verging on pained appearance, such a stark contrast to the smiling mug of a typical American politician. There were so many names on the page it’s impossible to imagine what the ballot must have looked like.

The following day it was reported in the tightly controlled media that 98% of Vietnam’s citizens had voted, an impossible total. The thousands of hand painted signs soon disappeared, propaganda stored away for another year. Though the socialist government likely hasn’t altered much in their 33 years since independence, capitalism is thriving. It’s hard to say what Bac Ho would think of these changes in his country, but if he were still alive it’s possible that his picture might have been among the many others in that newspaper, though likely the only one smiling.