Vietnam's president resigns

. The Vietnamese Communist Party has accepted the resignation of President Vo Van Thuong, Reuters reports citing the government of the country.

The government said in a statement that Thuong had violated party rules, adding that those "shortcomings had negatively impacted public opinion, affecting the reputation of the Party, State and him personally".

The Central Party Committee, a top decision-making body in Communist Party-ruled Vietnam, approved Thuong's resignation just about a year after his election.

The president holds a largely ceremonial role but is one of the top four political positions in the Southeast Asian nation.

Thuong, 53, quit days after Vietnamese police announced the arrest for alleged corruption a decade ago of a former head of central Vietnam's Quang Ngai province, who served while Thuong was party chief there, Reuters reports.

He had also been a senior party official of economic hub Ho Chi Minh City, which has been rocked by a multi-billion-dollar long-running financial scam, for which a large trial is currently underway, the report adds.