The Russian Central Election Commission on Friday registered 442 candidates as deputies of the fifth-convocation State Duma. The election process is concluded with the procedure, commission secretary Nikolai Konkin said. There are eight seats more, and the commission is waiting for documents from candidates, as five days remain to submit them, he added. Fifty seven communist deputies, 40 from the LDPR, 38 from the Just Russia party and 307 from United Russia are registered as of this Friday, Konkin said.
Tuva will be represented by Larisa Shoigu, born in Chadan (Tuva), currently based in Moscow. Tuva's electorate's turn up at the polling stations hit all the records in the republic's history - over 80 per cent Tuvans over 18 came to vote on December 2. Out of which almost 90 per cent voted for United Russia (Yedinaya Rossia). So Tuva which could not have had a deputy if the voting had not been thus unanimous has now a representative in the parliament. Even politically indifferent Kyzyl came to the polling stations.
Larisa Shoigu's candidature showed up after multiple consultations of different parties in Tuva who came to the conclusion that they all (except LDPR aand Communists) should work for the same candidate if Tuva can have a deputy at all. After many years of political confrontation in Tuva which drew to the power change in April, 2007, it was next to impossible to find a unifying figure among local politicians. Thus it came to Larisa Shoigu. Her influential brother Sergei Shoigu, minister for emergency and civil defence, cofounder of the United Russia party was not against. It played its role.
On the photo: Larisa Shoigu, Sholban Kara-ool
