General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
ເລຂາທິການໃຫຍ່ຄະນະບໍລິຫານງານສູນກາງພັກປະຊາຊົນປະຕິວັດລາວ
Emblem of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party
Incumbent Thongloun Sisoulith since 15 January 2021
Lao People's Revolutionary Party
Style	Comrade (Formal)
Type	Party leader Supreme leader
Appointer	Central Committee
Term length	5 years
Formation	22 March 1955
First holder	Kaysone Phomvihane

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the office of the highest-ranking member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP). Since the party's takeover in 1975, its leader has been the supreme leader of Laos.^[1] The General Secretary is also the Chairman of the Defense and Public Security Commission, the commander-in-chief of the Lao People's Armed Forces. From 1991 to 2006, the office was titled Chairman of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. The Party's Central Committee elects the General Secretary. The General Secretary usually also becomes President of Laos eventually, though from 1975 to 1991 and from 1992 to 1998 he was usually Prime Minister.

Officeholders

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Central Committee(s)
		Took office	Left office	Time in office
General Secretary
	Kaysone Phomvihane (1920–1992)	22 March 1955	29 March 1991	36 years, 7 days	I–II–III–IV (1955–1991)
Chairman
	Kaysone Phomvihane (1920–1992)	29 March 1991	21 November 1992	1 year, 237 days	V (1991–1996)
	Khamtai Siphandon (born 1924)	24 November 1992	21 March 2006	13 years, 117 days	V–VI–VII (1991–2006)
General Secretary
	Choummaly Sayasone (born 1936)	21 March 2006	22 January 2016	9 years, 307 days	VIII–IX (2006–2016)
	Bounnhang Vorachit (born 1937)	22 January 2016	15 January 2021	4 years, 359 days	X (2016–2021)
	Thongloun Sisoulith (born 1945)	15 January 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 357 days	XI (2021–2026)

References

1. Mark A. Lamport (2018). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-4422-7157-9.