 At the 14th plenum of the 9th Central Committee, the Politburo proposed that Mạnh would be appointed president and resign from his post as general secretary to be succeeded by Nguyễn Văn An, while Phan Diễn would be retained for the sake of stability. The proposal was rejected in a formal vote by the 9th plenum, and the Central Committee upheld the results of the "survey". At the unplanned 15th plenum held 14 – 16 April, which was held due to pressure by Nguyễn Minh Triết, Nguyễn Văn An and Phan Văn Khải, it was decided that delegates at the upcoming congress had the right of self-nomination and that there would competing elections for the posts of general secretary, prime minister and chairman of the National Assembly. The loser of the contest for general secretary would be appointed president. Mạnh and Nguyễn Minh Triết were candidates for the general secretaryship, Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and Nguyễn Sinh Hùng for the prime ministership and Nguyễn Phú Trọng and Trương Tấn Sang for the National Assembly chairmanship. For the first time in the party's history, competing elections were held for offices of power.
