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National Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party

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The National Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP; Lao: ກອງ​ປະຊຸມ​ໃຫຍ່​ຂອງ ພັກປະຊາຊົນ​ປະຕິວັດ​ລາວ) is the party's highest decision-making body. The LPRP has convened 11 congresses since its foundation in 1955, and eight since taking power in 1975. According to the party rules, the party congress is to be convened by the LPRP Central Committee (CC) every fifth year. It functions as a forum that approves party policy (such as the five-year plans), is empowered to amend the party's charter and program, and elects the Central Committee. The party leadership, through the Political Report of the Central Committee, briefs the party on its work in the period since its last congress, and sets out future goals for the period in between the next congress.

The congress was always convened in March from the 5th Congress in 1991 to the 9th Congress in 2011. According to Martin Sturt-Fox, this suggests an ideological cohesion within the party and its leadership. The 4th Congress introduced the "New Economic Mechanism" (NEM, market reforms). Partly for introducing NEM, the 4th Congress is the last congress to be postponed due to political infighting. Due to the party's secret nature, it's hard to discern the work and the political intrigues which takes place before the congress. In the run-up to party congresses, outside observers try to discern factional intrigues, usually between two supposedly "pro-Chinese" and "pro-Vietnamese" or "pro-reform" and "anti-reform" camps. Despite this, there seems to be broad agreement within the party on the path its pursuing: that is, creating a socialist market economic model and attracting foreign direct investment.

Keys

Abbreviations
CC Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
FM Full member (a member with voting rights).
AM Alternate member (a member without voting rights).
Political Report Political Report to the Central Committee, a document which briefs delegates about the period since the last Congress and future work.
PMR Party members represented at the congress by delegates (the party membership at the time).

Convocations

Congress Duration
(start—end) 		Delegates CC
elected 		Political Report
(presented by) 		PMR
1st National Congress
17 day
None 		22 March
–
14 April 1955 		25 5 None ~400
2nd National Congress
4 days
1972 election 		3 February
–
6 February 1972 		125 21 FM
–
6 AM 		Kaysone Phomvihane 21,000
3rd National Congress
4 days
1981–1982 election 		27 April
–
30 April 1982 		228 49 FM
–
6 AM 		Kaysone Phomvihane 35,000
4th National Congress
3 days
1985–1986 election 		13 November
–
15 November 1986 		300 51 FM
–
9 AM 		Kaysone Phomvihane 40,000
5th National Congress
3 days
1990–1991 election 		27 March
–
29 March 1991 		367 55 FM
–
44 AM 		Kaysone Phomvihane 60,000
6th National Congress
3 days
1995–1996 election 		18 March
–
20 March 1996 		381 49 Khamtai Siphandon 78,000
7th National Congress
3 days
2000–2001 election 		12 March
–
14 March 2001 		452 53 Khamtai Siphandon 100,000
8th National Congress
4 days
2005–2006 election 		18 March
–
21 March 2006 		498 55 Khamtai Siphandon 148,590
9th National Congress
5 days
2010–2011 election 		17 March
–
21 March 2011 		576 61 Choummaly Sayasone 191,700
10th National Congress
5 days
2015–2016 election 		18 January
–
22 January 2016 		685 69
–
8 AM 		Choummaly Sayasone 252,879
11th National Congress
3 days
2020–2021 election 		13 January
–
15 January 2021 		768 71
–
10 AM 		Bounnhang Vorachit 348,686

See also

References

General

Information on congresses, number of delegates, number of people elected to CCs, party membership, the individual who presented the Political Report and information on when the congress was convened can be found in these sources:

Bibliography

Articles and journals:

Specific

  1. ^ Stuart-Fox 2007, p. 161.
  2. Thayer 1983, p. 89.
  3. Thayer 1983, p. 85.
  4. Stuart-Fox 2007, p. 162.
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