Laos
Landlocked country in SE Asia, bounded N by China, E by Vietnam, S
by Cambodia, W by Thailand, and NW by Myanmar.
Government
A 1992 amendment to the 1991 constitution provides for an 85- member
national assembly, popularly elected for a five-year term. The
assembly, which meets in ordinary session twice a year, elects
as executive head of state, a president, who serves a similar
term. The president promulgates laws and, with the assembly's
approval, appoints or dismisses the prime minister and members
of the cabinet.
The controlling force and only political party in Laos is the
communist party (Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the LPRP),
which is dominated by its 11-member political bureau and heads
the broader Lao Front for National Reconstruction. Senior members
of the LPRP monopolize key state positions.
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