National Assembly polls underway

Doing their part: Local residents waiting to cast their ballots at a voting station in Hanoi. — AFP

Mask-wearing Vietnamese went to the polls, with tens of millions expected to select a largely rubber-stamp legislature amid a rapidly-spreading Covid-19 outbreak.

Fewer independent candidates than before are standing in the election for the 500-seat National Assembly, which is held every five years and usually after the ruling Communist Party holds its congress to select a new leadership.