Laos has a new prime minister after its National Assembly elected veteran diplomat Saleumxay Kommasith to the post, according to the Associated Press, which cited reports by state-run media on Tuesday 6 October. Saleumxay was elected on Monday 5 October in the capital, Vientiane, in a unanimous vote of the 158 lawmakers who were present, the state news agency KPL said, as quoted by AP.
A Change at the Top
AP reported that Saleumxay, who turns 58 on 31 October, is a member of the Politburo of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and previously served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. He succeeds Sonexay Siphandone, who in turn was elected president of the National Assembly, according to the agency.
The Laotian Times reported that the reshuffle followed the death of National Assembly President Xaysomphone Phomvihane in August at the age of 69. The newspaper said Xaysomphone died on 8 August, according to an official announcement from the party’s Central Committee, and that vice president Sounthone Xayachack served as acting president from 18 August until lawmakers met for the second ordinary session of the 10th Legislature. It added that the leadership reshuffle was expected to continue over the following days.
A Diplomatic Background
According to AP, Saleumxay studied at Russia’s Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Australia’s Monash University before holding a series of foreign ministry posts overseeing relations with Australia, the United States, the Americas and Europe. He also served in the Lao Mission to the United Nations in New York and speaks English, Russian and French, the agency said. AP described his Western-oriented career as unusual for Laos, noting that the country’s leaders generally have little international profile beyond links with neighbouring communist governments in Vietnam and China.
In a speech to the assembly after his election, Saleumxay said his government would give immediate attention to food production, infrastructure recovery, mineral management, major investment projects, tourism, revenue collection and monetary stability, KPL reported, according to AP. The agency added that Vietnam’s prime minister was due to visit Laos on Thursday.
Why It Matters
The vote installs a head of government whose career has been in diplomacy, a profile AP called unusual for Laos, while the assembly also fills its own top post. The priorities Saleumxay named, from food production to monetary stability, give an early indication of the agenda the new government says it will follow.
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