THE Vietnamese Communist Party accepted today the resignation of President Vo Van Thuong, the government said in a statement citing “shortcomings.”

The government said that Mr Thuong broke party rules and his “shortcomings had negatively impacted public opinion, affecting the reputation of the party, state and him personally.”

The party’s central committee accepted Mr Thuong’s resignation one year after his election.

At 54, he was the youngest president since Vietnam emerged from the war with the United States in the mid-1970s.

The president holds a largely ceremonial role, but is one of the top political positions in Vietnam.

Mr Thuong resigned days after Vietnamese police announced the arrest for alleged corruption of a former head of central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province.

Last year, former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned after the party blamed him for “violations and wrongdoing” by officials under his control.