General Khamtai Siphandon (born February 8, 1924) has been president of Laos since February 1998, and has led the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the only legal party in the country, since 1992.
He was previously the military commander of the Pathet Lao rebellion. On its takeover of the Laotian government in 1975 he became minister of defense, commander of the army, and a deputy prime minister. On the creation of a presidential republic in 1991 he became prime minister, succeeding party leader Kaysone Phomvihane, who became president. General Khamtai Siphandon became party leader on Kaysone's death, and later succeeded Nouhak Phoumsavanh as president.
