Nouhak Phoumsavanh

Nouhak Phoumsavanh or Phoumsavan (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; 9 April 1910<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>– 9 September 2008) was a longtime Pathet Lao revolutionary and communist party official who was the 3rd President of Laos from 1992 to 1998.<ref name=DPA>"Lao former president Nouhak Phoumsavanh dies at 94", DPA, September 10, 2008.</ref>

Life

Nouhak was born in Ban Phalouka in Mukdahan Province, Siam (now Thailand) in 1910, according to official sources,<ref name=Bio>"Biography of Comrade Nouhak Phoumsavanh" Template:Webarchive, Lao News Agency.</ref> although his year of birth has also been given as 1914.<ref name=DPA/> He married his first wife, Chanthome, in 1933 and they had four children, Phouthone, Phonesavanh, Khankeo and a son. He later remarried in 1944 to Bounema, who was of Vietnamese descent.

Political career

He was a founding member of the Lao revolutionary movement in 1945, and he became Chairman of the Lao Resistance Committee for the Eastern Region in 1949. In the Lao Resistance Government, he was named Minister of Finance in 1950. He participated in the founding congress of the Lao People's Party (later renamed the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, LPRP) in 1955 and was elected as the second-ranking member of its Central Committee (Deputy Director of the Central Committee).<ref name=Bio/>

Nouhak was subsequently the secretary of the Lao People's Party cell in Vientiane, the capital, and was a member of the National Assembly in 1958. He was arrested in 1959<ref name=Bio/> and spent a year in prison in Vientiane before escaping along with Souphanouvong.<ref name=DPA/> He was then secretary of the party cell in Khangkhay and had important roles in the party during the 1960s and 1970s, while the Laotian Civil War was ongoing. He was elected to the Politburo at the LPRP's 2nd Congress in February 1972 and was assigned responsibility for economic affairs.<ref name=Bio/>

When the Pathet Lao took power in December 1975,<ref name=DPA/> Nouhak was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister<ref name=Bio/> and Minister of Finance.<ref name=Bio/><ref name=DPA/> For years, he was considered "Number 2" in the leadership under Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane.<ref name=DPA/> He was elected as First Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers in April 1982, then as a standing member of the Council of Ministers in charge of economic affairs in November 1986. Nouhak was subsequently elected to the Supreme People's Assembly in 1989 and became President of the Supreme People's Assembly in the same year.<ref name="nationalassembly">Speakers</ref> Also in 1989, he was chosen as chairman of the commission charged with drafting a new constitution,<ref name=Bio/> which was adopted in 1991. With the adoption of this constitution, Kaysone assumed the presidency, which was transformed from a ceremonial to an executive position.Template:Citation needed After Kaysone's death,<ref name=DPA/> Nouhak was elected to succeed him as President of Laos by the Supreme People's Assembly in an extraordinary session on November 25, 1992.<ref name=Bio/>

Despite the presidency's executive powers, Prime Minister Khamtai Siphandon held the country's most powerful position as General Secretary of the LPRP. When Khamtai decided to move from Prime Minister to President in 1998, Nouhak, who was by then one of the oldest heads of state in the world, retired,Template:Citation needed leaving office on 24 February 1998.<ref name=Bio/>

Nouhak remained on the Central Committee and Politburo of the LPRP until the party's 6th Congress in 1996. At the 6th Congress in 1996 and the 7th Congress in 2001, he was named as Adviser to the Central Committee's Executive Committee.<ref name=Bio/> He reportedly remained in good health throughout his old age, and he was said to have continued making visits to the provinces by helicopter until 2007.<ref name=DPA/>

Later life

Nouhak died on 9 September 2008 at the age of 98.<ref name=DPA/><ref name=Dies>"Former President Nouhak Phoumsavanh passes away", Lao News Agency.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The state news agency attributed his death simply to "old age", while noting that he had received medical treatment both in Laos and outside the country.<ref name=Dies/> A committee of 26 members, including leading party and state figures (with President Choummaly Sayasone as its chairman), was formed to organize his funeral, and a five-day national mourning period was declared for 10–14 September, during which time all entertainment was prohibited.<ref>"National mourning for Mr. Nouhak Phoumsavah", Lao News Agency.</ref> He was cremated in Vientiane on 14 September.<ref name=Dies/>

In 2011, a memorial honoring him was erected at his birthplace in Mukdahan Province.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Honour

• Soviet Union : Order of the October Revolution (1984)
• Spain : Collar of the Order of Civil Merit (1995)
• Thailand : Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Order of the White Elephant (1995)
• Argentina : Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (1996)
• Norway : Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav (1997)