COMMUNIST MODERATE ELECTED SPEAKER OF DUMA…

It took two days, three rounds of voting, and extensive horse-trading before Gennady Seleznev, member of the Communist party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), was elected chairman of the new Duma yesterday. Seleznev won 231 votes, beating his main rivals Ivan Rybkin (150 votes) and Vladimir Lukin (50 votes). (2) Seleznev is considered a member of the moderate wing of the KPRF. Born in 1947, he was chief editor of the communist youth daily Komsomolskaya pravda from 1980 to 1988. In 1991 he became chief editor of the party’s flagship newspaper, Pravda. Seleznev was elected to the previous Duma in 1993, where he served as deputy speaker throughout 1995.

…With Yabloko’s Help