14 Facts About Nouhak Phoumsavanh

Nouhak Phoumsavanh or Phoumsavan was a longtime Pathet Lao revolutionary and communist party official who was the 3rd President of Laos from 1992 to 1998.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh married his first wife, Chanthome, in 1933 and they had four children, Phouthone, Phonesavanh, Khankeo and a son.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh later remarried in 1944 to Bounema, who was of Vietnamese descent.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh 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.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh participated in the founding congress of the Lao People's Party in 1955 and was elected as the second-ranking member of its Central Committee.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh was the secretary of the Lao People's Party cell in Vientiane, the capital, and was a member of the National Assembly in 1958.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh was arrested in 1959 and spent a year in prison in Vientiane before escaping along with Souphanouvong.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh 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.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh was elected to the Politburo at the LPRP's 2nd Congress in February 1972 and was assigned responsibility for economic affairs.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh 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 Phoumsavanh was elected to the Supreme People's Assembly in 1989 and became President of the Supreme People's Assembly in the same year.

When Khamtai decided to move from Prime Minister to President in 1998, Nouhak Phoumsavanh, who was by then one of the oldest heads of state in the world, retired, leaving office on 24 February 1998.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh remained on the Central Committee and Politburo of the LPRP until the party's 6th Congress in 1996.

Nouhak Phoumsavanh 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.