Part 2: The risk of disruption in successor ranks

Anxieties over who will follow

As young people leave their villages for distant work, anxieties concerning the shortfall of successor resources in grassroots-level Party organizations become increasingly apparent. Across numerous village Party branches, young mass prospects possessing competence, prestige, eligible credentials, and the aspiration to join the Party are growing fewer. In certain localities, branches proactively screened pools, conducted outreach, and assigned members to guide candidates, yet still found it difficult to identify suitable figures, occasionally failing to achieve assigned recruitment quotas.

Trung Sua village, Na Son commune, comprises 116 households with 623 residents. Out of roughly 300 young laborers aged 15 to 35, more than half have departed for work elsewhere, leaving behind mostly the elderly, women, and young children. This situation directly impacts candidate generation for Party development in the village. There are even instances where individuals completed Party awareness training courses but chose to depart for distant employment driven by livelihood pressures. The case of Mùa A Trống is typical: after concluding his Party orientation class, he left the village for outside work just as his admission dossier was being finalized.

According to Mùa A Công, Secretary of the Trung Sua Village Party Cell, the majority of working-age youths have departed for distant jobs, while those remaining either fall short of qualifications or lack the motivation to strive for Party membership. Due to limited recruitment pools, the village branch currently counts only 6 Party members. What troubles Công is that without timely replenishment from younger cohorts, the cell’s successor contingent will thin out further, rendering the search for qualified, capable, and dedicated figures to follow current members increasingly formidable.

Nặm Cứm village, Nà Tấu commune, counts 79 households with an abundant young labor force, yet they labor predominantly outside the province. This shortage of local candidates has directly undermined branch objectives. In 2025, the cell was assigned a quota to admit 3 Party members but fell short. Active and capable youths from the village have largely left for studies or employment; few remain behind, whereas cultivating Party recruits requires a sustained process of practical seasoning and evaluation.

Vàng A Sùng, Secretary of the Nặm Cứm Village Party Cell, stated that to secure successors, the branch regularly reviews and identifies active youths for cultivation, yet those eligible to strive for admission often leave for distant work. The branch’s greatest worry is not merely missing recruitment targets, but that if this pattern persists, it will jeopardize building successor ranks for the cell. The branch currently maintains 11 Party members.

The concerns echoing from the Trung Sua and Nặm Cứm Party Cells are not isolated to individual hamlets. Across extensive highland areas, youths leaving their villages for outside work is creating an increasingly visible void in grassroots-level Party development sources. This represents a pressing challenge, particularly given that Điện Biên has spent years consolidating grassroots-level Party organizations, eradicating villages lacking independent Party branches, and prioritizing candidate generation.

During the 2021–2025 period, executing Resolution No.04-NQ/TU dated May 7, 2021, of the Provincial Party Executive Committee on elevating the leadership capacity and combativeness of grassroots-level Party organizations to help consolidate the grassroots-level political system, Điện Biên recorded major achievements. Prior to the administrative mergers of villages, hamlets, and residential groups on July 1, 2026, the entire province counted 1,446 village, hamlet, and residential group Party branches. While 74 villages lacked independent cells at the beginning of the term, 100% now possess independent branches. Overall, the province admitted 12,049 Party members during this period, averaging nearly 2,500 new members annually and surpassing targets outlined in Resolution No.21-NQ/TW. However, admissions remained concentrated primarily in favorable central localities.

These past accomplishments demonstrate immense provincial efforts, yet grassroots-level realities demand looking deeper into the quality and long-term sustainability of successor ranks.

One shoulder bearing multiple burdens

The scarcity of prospective candidates impacts not only Party recruitment but also directly affects the organization, governance, and execution of shared responsibilities across branches and villages. Following administrative arrangements and hamlet mergers, territorial scopes and grassroots-level workloads expanded considerably. In several localities, a single cadre must assume multiple concurrent positions, fulfilling duties for Party organizations while shouldering administrative and mass-organization responsibilities.

In Tọ village, Búng Lao commune, Lò Thị Bình, born in 1994, concurrently serves as Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell, Village Head, Head of the Front Working Committee, and Head of the Village Women’s Union Branch. Lò Thị Bình shared that holding several concurrent posts generates considerable pressure, especially when the village rolls out multiple tasks simultaneously. From convening branch meetings and grasping public sentiment to conducting outreach and managing mass-organization campaigns, every assignment requires dedicated personnel to organize, track, and resolve on the ground.

Tọ village currently spans an expansive area of 202 households. One individual assuming multiple concurrent posts not only amplifies work pressure, but also highlights a deeper challenge: the shortage of local successor cadres. This situation is not confined to Tọ village, representing a shared dilemma across numerous grassroots-level Party committees in Búng Lao commune.

According to Tạ Mạnh Cường, Secretary of the Búng Lao commune Party Committee, the primary obstacle today is the dwindling pool of capable youths in villages due to outward labor migration. Consequently, the Party committee must actively review and monitor young people remaining locally, while sustaining communication with those working afar to avoid overlooking promising candidates.

A similar story unfolds in Cang village, Thanh An commune. Cang village was formed by merging the former Cang and Cà Phê villages. Following the merger, Bế Triệu Thị Quỳnh was nominated and elected by residents to serve as Party Cell Secretary concurrently with Village Head for the 2026–2031 term. Following reorganization, Cang village encompasses 217 households with 1,220 residents. The expansive territory and dispersed population require the leadership head to visit the grassroots level frequently, evaluate conditions, and handle emerging issues firsthand.

Bế Triệu Thị Quỳnh noted that since assuming both roles simultaneously, her workload has multiplied, particularly with the enlarged geographical boundary. From Party building and public mobilization to monitoring living conditions and addressing grassroots-level incidents, her direct presence is required for everything. On certain days, she balances branch paperwork with visiting individual residential clusters to meet residents and listen to their aspirations. She shared that holding multiple roles inevitably brings greater pressure, yet without staying close to the ground and monitoring developments promptly, village affairs cannot achieve efficiency.

Realities reveal that grassroots-level cadres holding concurrent posts can meet immediate operational requirements, but sustaining this over the long haul risks burnout, leaving cadres with insufficient time to remain close to the field, grasp public sentiment, and execute assigned tasks effectively.

Following administrative mergers, the entire province maintains 888 village Party branches with 887 village branch secretaries. Among these, 20 branch secretaries serve concurrently as village or residential group heads, while 8 concurrently head Front Working Committees. Regarding deputy branch secretaries, out of 701 individuals, 509 concurrently hold positions as village or residential group heads. Reducing administrative focal points following restructuring helps streamline organizations, yet demands that grassroots-level cadres shoulder larger volumes of work. Therefore, the core challenge lies not merely in reducing administrative units, but in ensuring capable personnel are ready to carry forward grassroots-level work. That emerging void must be filled proactively and early by Party committees, satisfying the imperative for every branch to truly preserve its role as a vital cell of the Party.