10:24, 7 June 2008

Chechnya's parliament to become unicameral

President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has signed a new law on election of deputies to the Parliament of Chechnya, according to which the legislature will become unicameral. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from an employee of the Republic's Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

"Yesterday, on June 6, the President of the Chechen Republic signed a new law on parliamentary elections. This law was adopted by the National Assembly and approved by the Council of the Republic late this May. Now, it has come into force," the contact person said.

According to the new law, the MPs of the Chechen Republic will be elected only from party lists, while earlier elections were held under a mixed system that is, deputies ran for both by party lists and in their constituencies. At the same time, the parliament will become unicameral and comprise 41 deputies instead of current 61 deputies, the CEC spokesman said.

The elections to the new parliament are planned for October 2009.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent