vietnam is divided into 58 provinces () and 5 municipalities existing at the same level as provinces (). the provinces are divided into districts (), provincial cities (), and district-level towns (), which are subdivided into commune-level towns () or communes (). the municipalities are divided into rural districts () and urban districts (), which are subdivided into wards ().   ==government== vietnamese provinces are controlled by a people's council, elected by the inhabitants. the people's council appoints a people's committee, which acts as the executive arm of the provincial government. this arrangement is a somewhat simplified version of the situation in vietnam's national government. provincial governments are expected to be subordinate to the central government. ===people's council=== each people's council has a standing council made up of the chairman and his/her deputies, who are elected from among the representatives in the people's council. the standing council has a number of functions, including representing the people's council when it is not in session. there are also a number of other committees established to deal with specific issues. all provinces have an economic and budgetary committee, a social and cultural committee, and a legal committee. if a province has many inhabitants who are not ethnically vietnamese, there will probably be a committee for ethnic affairs as well. citizens are eligible to vote in people's council elections from when they are aged eighteen, but cannot stand for election until they are aged twenty-one. to become a candidate, one can either nominate oneself or be selected by the fatherland front. nominated candidates are then voted on at "voters' conferences", which are organized by the fatherland front. attendees determine, sometimes by secret balot and sometimes by a show of hands, whether candidates meet the criteria set down by the people's council. candidates in whom the conference does not "express trust" cannot stand for election. the number of candidates elected per voting district is between one and three. there must be more candidates standing in each district than there are seats to be filled. ===people's committee=== the people's committee is, as mentioned previously, the executive arm of a provincial government, and is responsible for formulating and implementing policy. it may be thought of as the equiv
Country_subdivisions_of_Asia First-level_administrative_country_subdivisions Lists_of_country_subdivisions Provinces_of_Vietnam Subdivisions_of_Vietnam Vietnam_geography-related_lists