Laos's National Assembly on Wednesday appointed
Communist Party chief Bounnhang Vorachit as the country's new president and
named foreign minister Thongloun Sisoulith as prime minister.
The picks
are seen by many analysts as a continuation of the status quo in secretive
Laos, where the communists have ruled since the end of the Vietnam War.
State
television broadcast a meeting of the single-chamber National Assembly, at
which lawmakers listed the virtues of Bounnhang, who was appointed Communist
Party leader in January.
"The
National Assembly has approved Bounnhang Vorachit as president, with more than
two-thirds of the votes," said assembly chairwoman Pany Yathotou.
The
149-member assembly completed the process of nomination and voting for both
candidates in around an hour.
In his
acceptance speech, Bounnhang said he would strive for "peaceful
international policies, unity, friendship and cooperation".
One of
the fastest-growing economies in East Asia, landlocked Laos has averaged GDP
growth of 7 percent over the past decade, with increasing use of natural
resources contributing a third of output growth, the World Bank says.
This has
boosted incomes and access to electricity, telecoms and healthcare for its
mostly rural population of 6.7 million.
Laos has
close political ties to communist Vietnam and mirrors its political system.
Communist
neighbor China has been vying aggressively for influence in Laos, however,
providing loans, aid and infrastructure investment.
Laos is
still struggling to rid itself of the painful legacy of the Vietnam War, when
it became the most heavily bombed country in history after the U.S. and its
allies dropped about two million tons of ordnance from 1964 to 1973.
More than
four decades on, the country grapples with millions of cluster munitions and
other unexploded ordnance devices that kill and maim dozens each year.
(Writing
by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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