BBC
Vietnam's president Vo Van Thuong has resigned after only one year in office. After a meeting of the ruling Communist Party on Wednesday, the government said in a statement that he had broken party rules and had negatively affected its reputation.
 
Mr Thuong is believed to have resigned over his links to a corruption scandal in his home province. He was appointed last year to replace another president forced to step down over corruption.
 
The party's leadership has prioritized corruption as a problem it needs to address.
Changes in Vietnam's leadership are usually carefully planned and choreographed.
 
When he was selected last year, Vo Van Thuong was seen as a capable and relatively youthful president, who had the advantage of being a disciple of the powerful party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, the man leading the campaign against corruption.
 
Now, like his predecessor Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Mr Thuong has also been forced to resign over unspecified links to a scandal in his home province - although the government cryptically referred only to shortcomings that it said had damaged the party's public image.
 
Mr Thuong's resignation needs the formal approval of the National Assembly, which is meeting on Thursday.