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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Government: Lao People's Democratic Republic
proclaimed
December 2, 1975, abolishing monarchy of Royal Lao
Government. New
constitution unanimously endorsed by unicameral
eighty-five-member
Supreme People's Assembly, August 14, 1991; renamed
National
Assembly (1992); exercises power according to principle of
democratic centralism. National Assembly elected December
1992;
inaugural session, February 1993. As legislative organ
oversees
judiciary and activities of administration. President head
of
state, elected by National Assembly for five-year term;
also
commander in chief of armed forces. Council of Ministers
highest
executive organ; chairman is prime minister; vice chairmen
oversee
work of ministers. Real power exercised by members of the
ruling
party, Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP),
particularly
Political Bureau (Politburo) and Central Committee.
Politics: Lao People's Revolutionary Party
(LPRP) only
legal party. Party conference held late November 1993 to
include
representatives of provincial party units, Central
Committee
members, secretaries of party committees in ministries,
departments, factories, and schools. Speeches on neglect
of party
activities and quality of membership hint at concern with
corruption and need to build party at grass-roots level.
Judiciary: Comprises Supreme People's Court,
provincial
and municipal courts, people's district courts, and
military
courts.
Administrative Divisions: Divided into sixteen
provinces
(khoueng): Attapu, Borikhan, Bokeo, Champasak,
Houaphan,
Khammouan, Louang Namtha, Louangphrabang, Oudômxai,
Phôngsali,
Saravan, Savannakhét, Xaignabouri, Xekong, Xiangkhoang,
and
Vientiane; one municipality (kampheng nakhon),
Vientiane;
two special zones, Xaisomboun in northeastern Vientiane
Province
(established June 1994), and Xianghon-Hôngsa, formerly two
districts in Xaignabouri Province (established mid-1992);
districts
(muang) and villages (ban).
Foreign Affairs: "Special
relationship"--twenty-five-year
mutual security treaty signed 1977--with Vietnam
continues,
although intensity lessening. Relations with
Thailand--primary
economic partner, particularly in
hydroelectricity--improved after
period of distrust punctuated by border clashes. Increased
intraregional ties; observer status, Association of Southeast
Asian
Nations (ASEAN), since 1992. United States granted Laos
national
interest waiver in April 1994 for counternarcotics
cooperation;
determined necessary for continued cooperation on issue of
unaccounted-for United States military personnel.
Data as of July 1994
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