d no
legislative confirmation at the next assembly session.

Additionally, the council exercises executive control over the Council
of Ministers, its members, the local people's councils, and the Office
of the Chief Prosecutor; it can repeal decisions of the ministries and
other central departments, which in effect reduces the Council of
Ministers to a grade below the State Council. In the event of war the
State Council, in the absence of the National Assembly, is empowered to
sign peace treaties, to amend the constitution, to grant amnesty, and to
change the territorial boundaries of the country. In sum, the functions
of the State Council can be categorized into executive, legislative,
judicial, and police. In carrying out these multifarious
responsibilities, six councils and two committees assist the State
Council, (see fig. 7).

Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is described in the constitution as "a supreme
executive and administrative body of state power." In practice the
council is more of an advisory body to the State Council than it is a
supreme body even though it oversees the day-to-day functioning of the
government. In 1973 the council consisted of a chairman (the premier),
two first deputy chairmen, five deputy chairmen, twenty ministers, and
several chairmen of committees subordinate to the council. Additionally,
there are other members in the council; they are ministers without
portfolio (two) and the deputy chairman of the State Control Committee.
Within the council there is an inner executive committee known as the
Bureau of the Council of Ministers; its membership includes the
chairman, his seven deputies, the minister of finance, and the chairman
of the State Planning Committee.

Election and organization of the Council of Ministers is done by the
National Assembly, which determines the number, kind, and names of the
ministries and of other departments with ministerial rank. For this
reason the number of ministries and central agencies may vary from time
to time. The Constitution of 1971 introduced two new features that did
not exist in the 1947 Constitution. One obliges the Council of Ministers
to give an accounting of its work to the State Council and another
limits the rights of the Council of Ministers over the executive
committees of the people's councils.

Some of the functions of the Council of Ministers overlap those of the
State Council. Categorically, these functions may