Nouhak Phoumsavanh or Phoumsavan was a longtime Pathet Lao

Pathet Lao

The Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists...

 revolution

Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...

ary and communist party

Lao People's Revolutionary Party

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party is a communist political party that has governed Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the politburo and the central committee. A party congress, which elects members to the politburo and central committee, is held every five years...

 official who was President

President of Laos

The President of Laos is the head of state of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos.The office of the President was created in 1975, after the takeover of the country by the Pathet Lao, which abolished the monarchy. A member of the deposed royal family, Prince Souphanouvong, was the first...

 of Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

 from 1992 to 1998.

Nouhak was born to a family of part-Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

ese origin at Ban Phalouka in Mukdahan Province

Mukdahan Province

Mukdahan is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Amnat Charoen, Yasothon, Roi Et, Kalasin, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom. To the east it borders the Mekong River, across which lies Savannakhet Province of Laos.-Geography:The province is located in the...

 in 1910, according to official sources, although his year of birth has also been given as 1914. He had Vietnamese wives http://countrystudies.us/laos/85.htm. He married for the first time in 1933 and re-married in 1944. He 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. In the Lao Resistance Government, he was named Minister of Finance in 1950. He participated in the founding congress of the Lao People's Party (later renamed the Lao People's Revolutionary Party

Lao People's Revolutionary Party

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party is a communist political party that has governed Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the politburo and the central committee. A party congress, which elects members to the politburo and central committee, is held every five years...

, LPRP) in 1955 and was elected as a member number 2 of its Central Committee.

Nouhak was subsequently the Secretary of the Lao People's Party cell in Vientiane

Vientiane

-Geography:Vientiane is situated on a bend of the Mekong river, which forms the border with Thailand at this point.-Climate:Vientiane features a tropical wet and dry climate with a distinct monsoon season and a dry season. Vientiane’s dry season spans from November through March. April marks the...

, the capital, and was a member of the National Assembly

National Assembly of Laos

The unicameral National Assembly of Laos is the parliament of Laos. It was established in its current form by the Lao Constitution of 1991 , replacing the Supreme People's Assembly. After the December 1997 elections, the number of seats were increased to 99, a new structure was announced and...

 in 1958. He was arrested in 1959 and spent a year in prison in Vientiane before escaping along with Souphanouvong

Souphanouvong

Prince Souphanouvong was, along with his half-brother Prince Souvanna Phouma and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak, one of the “Three Princes” who represented respectively the communist , neutralist, and royalist political factions in Laos...

. He 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. He was elected to the Politburo at the LPRP's Second Congress in February 1972 and was assigned responsibility for economic affairs.

When the Pathet Lao took power in December 1975, Nouhak was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. For years, he was considered "Number 2" in the leadership under Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane

Kaysone Phomvihane

Kaysone Phomvihane was the leader of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party from 1955, though Souphanouvong served in a figurehead role...

. He 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 was subsequently elected to the Supreme People's Assembly in 1989 and became President of the Supreme People's Assembly in the same year; also in 1989, he was chosen as chairman of the commission charged with drafting a new constitution, which was adopted in 1991. With the adoption of this constitution, Kaysone assumed the presidency, which was transformed from a ceremonial to an executive position. After Kaysone's death, Nouhak was elected to succeed him as President of Laos by the Supreme People's Assembly in an extraordinary session on November 25, 1992.

Despite the presidency's executive powers, Prime Minister Khamtai Siphandon

Khamtai Siphandon

General Khamtai Siphandon is a Laotian politician who was President of Laos from February 24, 1998, until June 8, 2006, when he was officially replaced by Choummaly Sayasone....

 held the country's most powerful position as General Secretary of the LPRP. 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 February 24, 1998.

Nouhak remained on the Central Committee and Politburo of the LPRP until the party's Sixth Congress in 1996. At the Sixth Congress in 1996 and the Seventh Congress in 2001, he was named as Adviser to the Central Committee's Executive Committee. He 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. He died on September 9, 2008. The state news agency attributed his death simply to "old age", while noting that he had received medical treatment both in Laos and outside the country. A committee of 26 members, including leading party and state figures (with President Choummaly Sayasone

Choummaly Sayasone

Lieutenant General Choummaly Sayasone is General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic...

 as its chairman), was formed to organize his funeral, and a five day national mourning period was declared for September 10–14, during which time all entertainment was prohibited. He was cremated

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

in Vientiane on September 14.