Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP)

One-Party System

December 2022
OBJECTIVES

• Define and describe the nature of One-party system

• Identify the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) as One-party system
• Discuss the Development of Lao People’s Revolutionary party (LPRP)
• Explain how LPRP financed, and how a party candidate is selected
• Explain the challenges confronting LPRP

ONE-PARTY SYSTEM
Is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the
government, usually based on the existing constitution.

LAO PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (Development)

Date Founded
The LPRP was established on 22 March 1955 by former members of the
Indochinese Communist Party. It led the insurgency against the Royal Lao Government
and supported North Vietnamese forces in their war against the United States. The
insurgency culminated with the LPRP seizing power in Laos in 1975. During its first
years in power, the party strengthened party-state control over society and tried to
establish a planned economy based on the Soviet model. In the 1980s, influenced by
market reforms in China and Vietnam, the LPRP initiated economic reforms that
privatized state companies and legalized private property.

Founders
Ho Chi Minh
The LPRP has its roots in the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), founded by Ho Chi
Minh in 1930. (Ho Chi Minh led the struggle for Vietnamese independence and was the
president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 1945 until his
death in 1969.)
-------The ICP, composed entirely of Vietnamese members in its early years, formed the
Committee for Laos (or a "Lao section") in 1936. Only in the mid-1940s did the Vietnamese
communist revolutionaries step up active recruitment of Laotian members. In 1946 or early
1947, Kaysone Phomvihan, a law student at the University of Hanoi

Kaysone Phomvihan
Kaysone Phomvihan, (born Dec. 13, 1920, Na Seng, Laos—died Nov. 21, 1992,
Vientiane), Laotian political leader and revolutionary who was a communist leader from
1955 and, following the overthrow of the 600-year-old monarchy (1975), ruler of Laos.
Kaysone was born in southern Laos of a Lao mother and a Vietnamese father, a civil
servant in the French colonial government. Kaysone protested Japanese occupation of his
country during World War II, and while studying law at the University of Hanoi, he
became involved with the nascent Indochinese Communist Party. He was sent back to
Laos by Ho Chi Minh to join the anti-French revolutionary movement that was later
known as the Pathet Lao.

--------March 22, 1955, at the First Party Congress, that Phak Pasason Lao (Lao People's Party —
LPP) was formally proclaimed. (The name LPRP was adopted at the Second Party Congress in
1972.)
The Vietnamese communists provided critical guidance and support to the growing party
during the revolutionary period. They helped to recruit the leadership of the Laotian communist
movement; from its inception, the LPRP Political Bureau (Politburo) was made up of individuals
closely associated with the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese furnished facilities and guidance for training not only the top leadership
but also the entire Laotian communist movement. The Vietnamese assigned advisers to the party,
as well as to the military forces of the LPF. Under the guidance of North Vietnamese mentors,
LPRP leaders shaped a Marxist-Leninist party, political and mass organizations, and an army and
a bureaucracy, all based upon the North Vietnamese model.

OLD OFFICERS

POLITBURO OF THE LAO PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (LPRP)

Party Chairman, President: Khamtay Siphandone
Chairman of the NA: Samane Vinyaketh
Vice President: Choummaly Saynyasone
Mayor of Vientiane Municipality: Thongsing Thammavong
Prime Minister: Bounnyang Vorachith
Chairman of the National Construction Front: Sisavath
Keobounphanh
Deputy Prime Minister: Asang Laoly
Deputy Prime Minister/Chairman of CPI: Thongloun Sisoulith
Minister of Defense: Douangchay Phichit
Deputy Prime Minister: Bouasone Bouphavanh

PRESENT OFFICERS

POLITBURO OF THE LAO PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (LPRP)

Party Chairman, President: Thongloun Sisoulith
Chairman of the NA: Vuong Dinh Hue
Vice President: Pany Yathotu and Bounthong Chitmany
Mayor of Vientiane Municipality: Atsaphangthong Siphandone
Prime Minister: Phankham Viphavanh
Chairman of the National Construction Front: Saysomphone Phomvihane
Deputy Prime Minister: Nouhak Phoumsavanh, Phoumi Vongvichit, Khamtai Siphandon and
Phoune Sipraseuth
Deputy Prime Minister/Chairman of CPI: Thongsalith Mangnomek
Minister of Defense: Chansamone Chanyalath

QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS
In the party hierarchy--since the elimination of the Secretariat in 1991--is the Central
Committee, the party elite who fill key political positions throughout the country. The Central
Committee is charged with leading the party between congresses. In addition to members of the
Politburo and former members of the Secretariat, the committee includes key government
ministers, leading generals of the army, secretaries of provincial party committees, and
chairpersons of mass organizations.
CHARACTERISTICS
 The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the founding and sole ruling party of the
Lao People's Democratic Republic. The party's monopoly on state power is guaranteed by
Article 3 of the Constitution of Laos, and it maintains a unitary state with centralized
control over the economy and military.
 LPRP General Secretary Kaysone Phomvihane, in a speech to the 5th National Congress
in 1991, stated "that our Party's democracy is a centralized one. Therefore, we must
strictly implement the principle according to which the minority must yield to the
majority; the lower leading organization execute the upper leading organization’s orders.
The whole Party follows the Central Committee."

FUNCTIONS
 The party controls the unitary state through "the government, the bureaucracy, mass
organizations and the military
 The party is...the leading core of the entire political system, hub of intelligence, and
representative of the interest of the people of all strata. The party formulates and revises
the major lines and policies on national development in all spheres; finds solutions to
major problems

POLITICAL SPECTRUM

The LPRP is committed to communism and participates in the International Meeting of

Communist and Workers' Parties, an annual international forum of communist parties`.

POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
The LPRP is a Marxist–Leninist party deeply influenced by the Vietnamese and Soviet
communists' examples. The party sees itself as "the sole faithful representative of the interests of
the working classes, the working people of all Lao nationalities and the entire Lao people.

SELECTING PARTY CANDIDATES

The Leader of LPRP is chosen based on party hierarchy
Laos has a single-party system dominated by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party
(LPRP) and holds general elections for the National Assembly (Sapha Heng Xat) every five
years. National Assembly members are elected by plurality vote, and they in turn elect the
President. While most National Assembly members are LPRP members, independent candidates
may run. However, like all candidates, they need the support of the authorities and are vetted by
election committees.
They select and elect a leader that qualify through the following criteria
CRITERIA OF ELECTION: (General)
 Candidate having to "be patriotic, be devoted to the people's democracy.
 Loyal to the New Economic Mechanism of the Party.
 True to the nation.
 Always serve the interests of the people, and have a strong, clear and absolute attitude
towards friends and enemies.
OTHER CRITERIA:
 Candidate must have a sufficient level of knowledge of the Party's policies and strategic
programs, and of State laws and regulations.
 Have the capacity to undertake propaganda and motivate people to be aware of and to
participate in the implementation of Party policies and State laws"

-------Although Laos was reorganized as a communist "people's democracy," important vestiges

of traditional political and social behavior remained. The aristocratic families were shorn of their
influence, but a new elite with privileged access to the communist roots of power emerged, and
clients of lower status have searched them out as patrons. In addition, some of the old families,
who had links to the new revolutionary elite, managed to survive and wield significant influence.
As newly dominant elites replaced the old, they demanded a similar deference.

FUNDING OF LPRP
The funding of all LPRP organizations mainly comes from state budget since they
(LPRP) controlled governance and leadership at all levels through its constitutionally designated
leading role.
 The LPRP contributor are those influential persons and groups have national exposure
especially now since Laos has become more interconnected with new roads and other
logistical infrastructure Marriages between elite families extend beyond ministries,
ethnicities, and provinces.
  Also, private individuals and those people who have a lot of capacity in terms of funding
(rich people) has a share in financial and developmental matters which gives it a huge
presence and helps to fund the party of LPRP.

CHALLENGES
According to the critics the Lao People's Revolutionary Party face a lot of challenges as a
one-party system and as a part of communist ideology as well:
1. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party rule by communist parties leads to totalitarianism
2. Political Repression
3. Restriction of Human Rights
4. Poor economic stability and performance
Quiz:
ONE-PARTY SYSTEM:
LAO PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY

1. True or False, one-party system are usually existed because of their existing constitution
-True
2. When was Lao People's Revolutionary Party established?
- March 22, 1995.
3. Yes or No, Is Ho Chi Minh the (founder of LPRP) is a Vietnamese and not a Lao?
- Yes
4. Who is the present party chairman of a LPRP?
- Thongloun Sisoulith
5. What is the political ideology of LPRP?
- Marxism-Leninism
6. What are the main source of LPRP in funding a political party?
- State Budget
7 to 8. Give at least one criterion to for election to qualify in a party.
-True to the nation.
- Candidate having to "be patriotic, be devoted to the people's democracy.
- Loyal to the New Economic Mechanism of the Party.
- Always serve the interests of the people, and have a strong, clear and absolute attitude
towards friends and enemies.
9 to 10. Give at least 1 of the challenges of LPRP as part of a communist ideology.
- The Lao People's Revolutionary Party rule by communist parties leads to
totalitarianism
- Political Repression
- Restriction of Human Rights
 - Poor economic stability and performance

SOURCES:
countrystudies.us
http://countrystudies.us/laos/85.htm
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_People%27s_Revolutionary_Party
Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lao-Peoples-Revolutionary-Party
factsanddetails.com
https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3d/entry-2974.html
https://country.eiu.com/laos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Central_Committee_of_the_Lao_People
%27s_Revolutionary_Party?fbclid=IwAR1i8FqX7Y9nQGeqpIsoY7UR4l8XOw1KR-
LFmPMfw_r04bOAOOfVfAiEzYs
https://dbpedia.org/page/Lao_People's_Revolutionary_Party?
fbclid=IwAR04RIh8xVJS4e5BGN5dBczFjazNdN3ADRCxGvGQXnGCRzrtRFUwNAuQd
ZA