Conservatives still call the shots in Vietnam and Laos
Vietnam and Laos, the only Communist regimes in South-east Asia, inducted new leadership this past week through party congresses. Changes in both cases saw conservatives prevail.
The relatively secretive Lao People’s Revolutionary Party which runs Laos – which is chairman of the 10-nation Asean this year – chose Mr Bounnhang Vorachit, 78, as its new leader. In Hanoi on 27 January, 71-year-old Nguyen Phu Trong was reappointed leader of the Vietnam Communist Party.
