Laos’s ruling communist party reappointed Thongloun Sisoulith as secretary general for a second term, keeping the country’s most powerful political office in the hands of an 80-year-old revolutionary veteran while beginning a partial generational transition in senior leadership.
The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party made the selection at its 12th National Congress in Vientiane. A total of 834 delegates attended the three-day gathering, which reviewed the previous term and adopted policy direction for 2026 through 2030. State media said the leadership choices were reached unanimously.
Thongloun is a veteran of the communist Pathet Lao insurgency that overthrew the monarchy in 1975. His reappointment offers policy continuity within the one-party system and leaves him substantially older than the other members of the new Politburo.
Delegates chose a 73-member Central Committee, expanding it from 71 seats, and a 13-person Politburo that serves as the party’s highest decision-making body. The leadership contest was described by one source as close, although the supplied report did not provide vote totals.
Five new Politburo members entered: propaganda chief Khamphan Pheuiyavong; Education Minister Thongsalith Mangnormek; Planning and Investment Minister Phet Phomphiphack; Defence Minister Lieutenant General Khamlieng Outhakaysone; and Khammouane provincial governor Vansay Phongsavanh.
They replaced five veterans born between 1946 and 1953, including former prime minister Phankham Viphavanh, vice presidents Pany Yathotou and Bounthong Chitmany, former defence minister Chansamone Chanyalath and Lao Front for National Construction president Sinlavong Khoutphaythoune. The turnover matched the scale of the 2021 congress, when four newcomers joined the Politburo.
The congress also appointed Vilay Lakhamfong as a standing member of the party secretariat and placed Vansay Phornsavanh at the head of the Central Inspection Committee. Those organizational choices assign responsibility for implementing and supervising the congress’s decisions.
Delegates approved drafts of long-term planning documents, including a third Political Program with a vision for 2055, the party’s centennial. State media said the goal was an upper-middle-income developing country with a modern economy, stronger political institutions and improved living standards.
That ambition faces severe constraints. Laos has endured economic turmoil since the COVID-19 pandemic, and heavy external debt remains one of the leadership’s main challenges for the new term. The congress set a destination but did not remove the fiscal pressures that could limit its development program.
Vietnamese party leader To Lam and Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Thongloun. To Lam emphasized the relationship between Vietnam and Laos, while Xi said the congress would create new prospects for Laos’s party and socialist development.
The final result combined continuity at the top with renewal beneath it. Thongloun remains in command, but the new Politburo gives younger technocrats a larger role in managing the economic and institutional agenda through 2030.
