Laos Communist Party leader steps down

[Janus]

BBC News

The President of Laos, Khamtay Siphandone, has stepped down as head of the Communist Party.
The move was announced at the end of the country's five-yearly party congress in the capital, Vientiane.

The 82-year old will be replaced at the head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party by Vice-President Choummaly Sayasone, who is 70.

The party has ruled the country for more than 30 years since seizing power in 1975.

Mr Khamtay also left the politburo, of which the head of state is usually a member, and it was not clear whether he would remain the country's president.

Reports suggested he could step down ahead of parliamentary elections set for 30 April.

Laos, one of the world's few remaining communist states, is one of East Asia's poorest countries.

Thoughts on Laos and where it's headed?

[kurt]

modern capitalism.

[Sankara1983]

I went to a high school with a large Hmong population (the sons and daughters of refugees) that is vigorously anticommunist and has nothing positive to say about the Laotian government. Besides this, the most common description of the country I have encountered is that it is a "vassal state" of Vietnam.

LPRP has a long-standing tradition of official secrecy and has done very little to improve living conditions in Laos. Laos is often described as a Communist state, when in fact the 1991 Constitution does not even include the words "socialism" or "socialist."

[Eleutherios]

Originally posted by Janus@Mar 22 2006, 10:49 PM
Thoughts on Laos and where it's headed?

Whatever direction it's headed in, it's not a stateless classless society.

[WUOrevolt]

Laos=state capitalism, never was socialism, and there is no such thing as a communist state.