HANOI, April 7 (Reuters) - Vietnam’s lawmakers unanimously elected Communist Party Secretary General To Lam as the country’s state president for the next five years, a parliament official said after the vote on Tuesday.

In a widely anticipated move, Lam was elected by lawmakers in the National Assembly. The Parliament endorsed the Communist Party’s nomination, which officials said was finalised in a meeting at the end of March.

The former head of public security has now a double mandate to rule the country for the next five years, after he secured a second term as general secretary in January. 

(Reporting by Khanh Vu, Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by David Stanway)