Yearbook 2006
Laos. According to
CountryAAH, a number of personal transfers were made in L's
political leadership during the year, but these were not
expected to bring about any changes in the
Communist-controlled country's political course. When
elections were held for the National Assembly on April 30,
the Communist Party took home 113 of the 115 seats. The
remaining two seats were won by independent, pre-approved
candidates. When the National Assembly in June appointed a
new Laotian president, the election awaited the
Secretary-General of the Communist Party, Vice President Choummaly Sayasone, 70, who was close to former President
Khamtay Siphandone, 82, close. The new Prime Minister of the
country was elected as tipped Deputy Prime Minister Bouasone
Bouphavanh. The new government he formed had as its primary
objective to fight the corruption that characterizes society
and to ensure that the good economic development in the
country continues.
In March, it was found that a new species of rodent,
which scientists discovered in a market in L. 2005, was a
waste of a mammal previously believed to be extinct. The
survivor, christened Laonaste's monogamous mouse,
showed great resemblance to a rodent family that until now
is believed to have been extirpated about eleven million
years ago. The discovery attracted considerable attention in
scientific circles.
Laos received continued international criticism for his
way of treating the minority people, among whom a
small-scale armed guerrilla resistance has been fought
against the communists since the 1970s. In March,
information came out that 26 women and children from Hmong
would have been killed in a massacre by government soldiers.
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