1st LD Writethru: Parliamentary election kicks off in Vietnam

Over 69.265 million Vietnamese voters nationwide are casting their votes for election of deputies to the country's parliament and members of all-level people's councils.

The election, which elects deputies to the 14th National Assembly (NA) and all-level People's Councils for the 2016-2021 tenure, started at 7 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT) at 91,476 polling stations across the country on Sunday.

As many as 500 deputies will be elected to the 14th NA of Vietnam out of 870 candidates.

Among the figure, 339 candidates are female, accounting for 38.97 percent while 204 candidates are from ethnic minorities, making up 23.45 percent, according to the list of candidates released by the National Election Council (NEC) in late April.

A total of 97 candidates are not the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) members, accounting for 11.15 percent while 168 candidates are deputies to the 13th NA.

Meanwhile, Provincial People's Councils across Vietnam will have 3,918 deputies to be vied by 6,528 candidates. At the district level, as many as 24,993 out of 41,777 candidates will be elected as council members. The respective figures for the communal level are 294,055 and 497,312.

The election is scheduled to last till 7 p.m.(12:00 GMT) on Sunday.

The result of the election of deputies to the 14th NA will be announced within 20 days after the election, the NEC said in a press release on Friday.

The first session of the 14th NA is scheduled to convene in July 2016 when the NA Standing Committee and state leaders will be re-elected.

During the final session of the 13th NA, Vietnamese parliament replaced top leadership positions of the country. On March 31, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan became the country's first NA chairwoman, while Tran Dai Quang was elected the new President on April 2, and Nguyen Xuan Phuc was elected the country's new Prime Minister on April 7. Endit