Vietnam's anti-corruption czar crowned party chief again after secretive congress

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected most powerful man of the country on Sunday.

Trong is one of the Southeast Asian country's strongest and longest-serving leaders since founding revolutionary Ho Chi Minh.

The 76-year-old pro-China conservative, who is rumoured to be in poor health, was given the nod after a week of closed-door talks at the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress.

It will be his third term in office -- a feat unprecedented in Vietnam's modern era.

"On Sunday morning, comrade Nguyen Phu Trong was elected the General Secretary of the 13th Communist Party Central Committee," the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Another stint in the top job for Trong is seen as a boost for his high-profile anti-corruption campaign, officially dubbed a "blazing furnace",that has swept through the party, police and armed forces.

Trong, the first party general secretary to serve a third term since the "doi moi" era of economic reform began in 1986, has also served as president since 2018. He emerged on top in a power struggle with former prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the last party congress in 2016 and has since presided over an intense crackdown on corruption that has seen the jailing of dozens of high-ranking officials, including a politburo member.

The 66-year-old has also steered the country's robust response to the coronavirus pandemic which helped case numbers low, with just 35 deaths recorded.

Vietnam has so far recorded nearly 1,800 cases of the coronavirus, nearly 200 of which were recorded in the past four days.

Authorities also confirmed the first case in Vietnam of the South African variant in an expert who arrived from the country in late December.