It is with great sadness that the Party Central Committee, National Assembly, Ministry of National Defence, Lao Front for National Construction, and the Vignaket family inform Party members, civil servants and government employees, soldiers, and compatriots that Lieutenant General Samane Vignaket died at 00.24 am on July 22, in his 89th year.
Lieutenant General Samane Vignaket served as a member of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party’s Second and Third Congresses, a member of the Politburo of the Party’s Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Congresses, and as former President of the National Assembly’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth Legislatures. He also was the former Head of the Party Central Committee’s Organisational-Personnel Committee, former Head of the Party Central Committee’s Propaganda and Training Board, the former Minister of Education, and the former Deputy Minister of National Defence.
To commemorate Lieutenant General Samane, who was one of the most senior leaders of the country and devoted his life to the nation and the revolution, the Party Central Committee, National Assembly, and government will hold an official 3-day mourning ceremony from July 22-25.
His body has been placed in the National Assembly Hall in Vientiane.
The funeral ceremony will take place on July 25 at 1pm at the That Luang esplanade.
Lieutenant General Samane Vignaket’s Biography
Lieutenant General Samane Vignaket was born on March 3, 1927 in Dong village in Tambon Pa Makhap, Phichit district, Phichit province, Thailand.
He joined the fight for national liberation in 1945.
1945-1948: Became a soldier in the Lao Isara Army (National Rescue soldier) with activities focused on the border area between Laos and Vietnam.
1948: Became political chief of a Lao Isara Unit in Champassak province.
1949: Became a member of the Communist Party of Indochina.
1950-1954: Became Deputy Head of Political Staff of the southern provinces in Attapeu.
1954-1960: Gained the title of Major Colonel, responsible for the organisational section of the political office of the supreme commander of the Lao People’s Liberation Army.
1960-1969: Responsible for the political offic e of Xieng Khuang province’s Commanding Office.
1970-1973: Secretary of Party Committee and Head of the Commanding Office for the southern provinces. Elected as a member of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Executive Committee in February 1972.
1973-1975: Head of the Political Office of the Lao People’s Liberation Army.
1975-1981: Deputy Minister of Defence and Head of the Political General Department, gained the title of Lieutenant General in the Lao People’s Liberation Army.
1982-1986: The Third Party Congress elected him as a member of the Party Central Committee’s Executive Committee, and Head of the Party Central Committee’s Organisational-Personnel Committee.
1986-1988: The Fourth Party Congress elected him as member of the Politburo, member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, and Head of the Party Central Committee’s Organisational-Personnel Committee.
1988-1991: Became the Minister of Education.
1991: The Fifth Party Congress elected him as a member of the Politburo and Minister of Education.
1992: Elected President of the National Assembly’s Third Legislature.
1997: Elected President of the National Assembly’s Fourth Legislature.
2002: He was elected President of the National Assembly’s Fifth Legislature.
2006: The Seventh Party Congress elected him as a member of the Politburo and he was responsible for guiding the ideology, theory and cultural affairs of the Party Central Committee.
2006-2011: Head of the Party Central Committee’s Propaganda and Training Board.
2011: Health problems meant he did not submit his candidature for the Ninth Party Congress.
