357 candidates contest 58 seats in Chechen ParliamentBy Lecha Sadayev
CHECHNYA – 357 candidates are contesting 58 seats in the bicameral Chechen parliament. 251 represent single mandate constituencies whereas the remaining 106, nominated by regional branches of eight Russian political parties, represent a single, nationwide constituency.
Forty nine candidates belong to the United Russia Party, the largest group representing one party. Candidates hail from past (i.e. separatist) and present (i.e. Moscow-backed) governments as well as cultural and sports sections and include, for example, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow-backed Chechen government; Taus Dzhabrailov, chairman of the State Council of the Chechen Republic; Magomed Khambiyev, former Defense Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria; Ibragim Khultygov, head of National Security of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria; former deputies of the Ichkerian Parliament Magomed Gushakayev and Salambek Kunchalov; the singer Tamara Dadasheva; poets Sharip Tsuruyev and Umar Saiyev and the world famous wrestling champion, Khasan Ortsuyev.
Campaigning in the media began on October 29 and will continue for a month; elections are scheduled to take place on November 27.
There are almost 600,000 voters in Chechnya, which is organised into 429 electoral precincts.
Translated by Anita Rathjen.
(U/E,T,B) RELATED ARTICLES:
· Chechen election campaign picks up speed (PW, 21.9.2005)
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