Vietnam’s Communist Party has nominated Võ Văn Thưởng as the country’s new president, two party sources said on Wednesday, following the sudden forced resignation in January of his predecessor as part of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign.

Thưởng, 52, is the youngest member of the party’s Politburo, the country’s top decision-making body, and is widely regarded as being close to General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam’s most powerful figure.

Trong is the main architect of the party’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on graft, under which hundreds of officials have been investigated and many forced to quit, including former President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and two deputy prime ministers.

The selection of Thưởng by the party’s Central Committee upholds an earlier decision by the Politburo. His nomination will need approval by the rubber-stamp National Assembly, which is due to hold an extraordinary session on Thursday and a formal sitting in May.

The government in a statement on Wednesday said the central party committee had agreed on a nomination for president, without naming the candidate.

The president in Vietnam holds a largely ceremonial role, but is among the top four political figures in the country, together with the party’s general secretary, the prime minister and the head of the national assembly.