The passing of Vietnam’s 80-year-old leader paves the way for a leadership contest at the 2026 National Party Congress Thousands of Vietnamese citizens gathered to bid a final farewell to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s most influential leader in years, ahead of his funeral and burial ceremonies. The 80-year-old leader passed away last week in a Hanoi hospital. Having led the Communist Party since 2011, Trong orchestrated a notable anticorruption campaign that impacted the