Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Democratic Party (Laos)
The party was established in 1948 by Kou Voragong, and was controlled by the Voravong family, who also paid for the party's newspaper "Sieng Lao" ("Voice of Laos") to be published. It won four of the 39 seats in the 1951 elections. Following Kou Voravong's assassination in 1954, it was reduced to three seats in the 1955 elections. However, the cabinet was constitutionally required to obtain the support of two-thirds of MPs, and therefore the party held a significant amount of power over the National Progressive Party, which had won 22 seats. It failed to win a seat in the 1958 supplementary elections.