The country’s supreme political and policy-making authority, the Communist Party of Việt Nam (Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam) is one of a network of 30 mass organisations grouped together under the Việt Nam Fatherland Front (Mặt Trận Tổ Quốc Việt Nam). Major policy changes are ratified and government officials appointed at Party Congresses, which have been held since 1935 and currently take place every five years. The Communist Party is governed by a Central Committee (Ban Chấp hành Trung Ương) of some 150 members, which elects a 15-member Political Bureau (Bộ Chính trị) to oversee the functioning of the Party and issue guidelines to the legislature. In practice day-to-day decision-making rests in the hands of a seven-member group of Politburo and Central Committee members known as the Party Secretariat (Ban bí thư).