Beattie reports on Vietnam's Communist Party.

Q&A Thayer & Beattie / Vietnam Politics / Vietnam's National Assembly this week gave tepid support to 63-year old Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung nuh-WEE-ihn TAHN DUHNG in an extraordinary confidence vote in the one-party state that comes amid rising public anger over corruption and the state of the economy. Of those casting ballots in the 498-seat Assembly, Mr. Dung, the former head of the country's central bank, received only 210 "high confidence" votes, 122 "confidence" votes and a surprising 160 "low confidence" votes. Vietnam analyst Carl Thayer, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales in Australia, tells VOA's Victor Beattie the Central Committee's decision revealed deep divisions within Vietnam's Communist Party.