Word: figurehead
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...Figurehead President. Reflecting the demographics of the unified country, which will have a population of 44 million people, membership in the Assembly is weighted slightly in favor of the North; it has 249 representatives v. 243 for the South. Sitting in Hanoi, the Assembly will be mainly a rubber stamp to the ten-man Politburo of North Viet Nam's Lao Dong (Workers' Party). The legislators, warned Politburo Member Pham Hung, who is the party's chief representative in the South, will be expected to carry out Lao Dong policies "most scrupulously...
Hung himself is an Assembly member, as are most of the important North Vietnamese Communists. When the legislature convenes for the first time, possibly around May 19, it will choose a figurehead President for the unified country, plus a Premier and a Cabinet. Most likely choice as Premier is North Viet Nam's Premier Pham Van Dong. Others who will probably hold top leadership posts include Le Duan, First Secretary of the Lao Dong, and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh, who was chief negotiator for the Viet Cong in Paris...
...tamely orchestrated that bored crowds began to wander away before the big finale. Then it was announced that a two-day Congress of 265 People's delegates had taken place in Vientiane, although no one in the capital had seen or heard of it. At each event, figurehead King Savang Vatthana, 68, and his 18-month-old coalition were thanked for having helped the revolution and then courteously advised that it was time to go. Finally, the King was escorted to the Communists' jungle capital of Viengsay (Victory City). There he dutifully abdicated the 650-year-old monarchy...
Communist Liechtenstein. Little is known inside or outside Laos about the country's new rulers. "Red Prince" Souphanouvong, half-brother of the ousted Premier, Prince Souvanna Phouma, will probably stay on as the republic's figurehead President. The new Premier and secretary-general of the party is Kaysone Phomvihan; his principal deputy is Nouhak Phoumsavan, a senior member of the Pathet Lao central committee. Both men have strong loyalties to Hanoi: Kaysone's father was Vietnamese, while Nouhak is reportedly a protege of Ho Chi Minh's. It remains to be seen whether they will...
...Russians have so far spent more money than the Chinese, but the game of oneupmanship, which the Chinese probably invented, may have already been won by Peking. In Luang Prabang, the capital of figurehead King Savang Vatthana, the Chinese have promised to build a new National Assembly building that will overshadow Moscow's projected gift, a giant statue of the King...