Vietnam lawmakers on Tuesday elected as president Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, the only candidate on the ballot, making him the most powerful man in the country where consensus leadership has traditionally kept strongman rule in check, Agence-France Presse reports. Unlike China, Vietnam previously kept the two positions, party leader and president, separate. Proponents of the change have said that having one person hold both titles would avoid diplomatic confusion and cut costs, according to Nikkei Asian Reivew. With the merger of two positions under one person, Trong could become the most powerful figure in Vietnamese politics since Le Duan, a Communist Party hero and strongman who served as Party general secretary from 1960 until 1986, writes David Hutt for Asia Times.