Thursday, March 3, 2011

Laos

Laos

Laos

Laos officially the Lao People s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia bordered by Burma and People s Republic of China to the northwest Vietnam to the east Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west Laos traces its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants which existed from the 14th to the 18th century After a period as a French protectorate it gained independence in 1949 A long civil war ended officially when the Communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975 but the protesting between factions continued for several years Forty-four percent of the population lived below the international poverty line of the equivalent of US 1 25 a day according to data from 2006 though the CIA World Factbook currently places this figure at 26 Laos is a communist single-party socialist republic The only legal political party is the Lao People s Revolutionary Party LPRP The head of state is President Choummaly Sayasone who also is secretary-general leader of the LPRP The head of government is Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh Government policies are determined by the party through the all-powerful nine-member Politburo and the 49-member Central Committee Important government decisions are vetted by the Council of Ministers Laos first French-written and monarchical constitution was promulgated on May 11 1947 and declared it to be an independent state within the French Union The revised constitution of 11 May 1957 omitted reference to the French Union though close educational health and technical ties with the former colonial power persisted The 1957 document was abrogated on 3 December 1975 when a communist People s Republic was proclaimed A new constitution was adopted in 1991 and enshrined a quot leading role quot for the LPRP The following year elections were held for a new 85-seat National Assembly with members elected by secret ballot to five-year terms This National Assembly which essentially acts as a rubber stamp for the LPRP approves all new laws although the executive branch retains authority to issue binding decrees The most recent elections took place in April 2006 The assembly was expanded to 99 members in 1997 and in 2006 elections had 115

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