When Vietnam elects its National Assembly this weekend, voters will find that, by and large, the choice has already been made for them.
The country’s ruling Communist Party blocked more than one hundred independent nominees from running—an unprecedented number whose ranks included a businessman, academics, activists, a taxi driver and a pop star.
Of the eight hundred and seventy candidates approved to contest the poll, which takes place every five years, only eleven were not Communist Party members.
The National Elections Committee said the vetting would ensure that certain demographic quotas were met. But the independents are not buying it.