guides the People's Councils and their activities, and directs, regulates and coordinates the activities of the Ethnic Council and the committees of the National Assembly. There are seven committees of the National Assembly. Committee membership is determined by the National Assembly. They are responsible for the studying and examination of bills, legislative initiatives, drafts of ordinances and other drafts of legal documents and reports assigned by the National Assembly or the Standing Committee. The committees provide the National Assembly and its Standing Committee with their opinions on the legislative programme. The committees supervise and conduct investigations within their respective competency and exercise powers which are stipulated by law. The National Assembly elects the Ethnic Council, which consists of a Chairman, Deputy Chairmen and other members. The Ethnic Council studies and recommends actions to the National Assembly; the National Assembly has to consult with the Ethnic Council before issuing any decisions on ethnic policy. The Chairman of the Ethnic Council has to attend meetings of the Government which concern ethnic policy. The powers of the Ethnic Council are comparable to those of the committees. |Chairman |Vương Đình Huệ |Communist Party | 31 March 2021 |- |Deputy Chairman |Trần Thanh Mẫn |Communist Party | 2021 |- |Deputy Chairman |Nguyễn Khắc Định |Communist Party | 2021 |- |Deputy Chairman |Nguyễn Đức Hải |Communist Party | 2021 |- |Deputy Chairman |General Trần Quang Phương |Communist Party | 20 July 2021 |- |Chairman of the Ethnic Council |Y Thanh Hà Niê Kđăm |Communist Party | 21 July 2021 |} Judiciary The Vietnamese judicial system is based upon Socialist legality. The country's highest judicial organ is the Supreme People's Court (SPC) (). The composition of the SPC includes the Chief Justice (), Deputy Chief Judge, jurors and court secretaries. The structure of the SPC (from the top down) is as follows: Council of Judges, Commission of Judges, Central Military Court, Criminal Court, Civil Court, Appeal Court, and assisting staff. The Chief Judge of the SPC is elected by the National Assembly, while the President of the Socialist Republic has the power to nominate and dismiss the Deputy Chief Judge and judges at the Chief Judge's request. The Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front introduces People's Jurors, which are in turn appointed by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. According to the Government Web Portal, the operating principles of the courts are, during hearings, that