In Kalmykia, opposition fails to take key positions in administration of People's Great Khural

During the second session of the People's Great Khural (Parliament) of Kalmykia, members of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party the party of Speaker Anatoly Kozachko were elected deputy chairmen of the Legislative Assembly of Kalmykia. Members of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party were also elected to lead all standing committees of the Parliament. These facts caused discontent among the opposition.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 8, Kalmykia held elections to the People's Great Khural, the supreme legislative body of the state power of the republic. Following the election results, 18 seats went to the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party, four to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), three to the "Grazhdanskaya Platforma" (Civic Platform) Party, and two to the "Patrioty Rossii" (Patriots of Russia) Party. On September 20, MPs elected Anatoly Kozachko, who earlier occupied the position of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for two terms, to be the Chairman of the People's Great Khural.

Anatoly Kozachko has nominated Khongor Elbikov and Saglar Bakinova, members of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party, to the positions of his deputies, and the nominees were elected by majority vote.

Members of the "Grazhdanskaya Platforma" Party say they had no doubts that Anatoly Kozachko would be again elected to be the Speaker; however, they voted against Khongor Elbikov and Saglar Bakinova. This was stated by Alexander Boldyrev, Chairman of the Kalmyk Branch of the "Grazhdanskaya Platforma" Party. According to his version, members of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party "did not even notice" any opinion of the opposition.

In view of the circumstances, only one MP of the CPRF took part at the election of the Chairman of the Parliament. This was reported by Nikolai Nurov, First Secretary of the Kalmyk Republican Committee of the CPRF. According to his report, members of the CPRF also point out the futility of the opposition activity in the republic.