United Russia proposes transferring the mandate to the former head of Tuva after Yeliferova resigned; lawmakers may consider the issue on October 13.
The mandate of United Russia deputy Irina Yeliferova is expected to be transferred to Sholban Kara-ool, a former deputy speaker of the State Duma and former head of Tuva, RBC reported, citing party and Duma sources. Yeliferova became the first member of the ninth Duma to give up a mandate. She filed her resignation after the new convocation’s first meeting, citing a move to another job.
Her powers are proposed to end on October 2, the date she filed her application. The Duma may consider the matter at a plenary meeting on October 13. Kara-ool ran on United Russia’s list in regional group No. 3, which includes Tuva, Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai. He was fourth and did not receive a seat in the initial allocation.
A party source told RBC that election law strictly governs distribution of mandates from the federal part of the list. Yeliferova was at the bottom of the regional group because she was included in the Moscow list. Candidates above her either received seats or declined them. Had she resigned immediately, the mandate could have gone to another designated regional group. Now that the other candidates in the group have received seats or declined them, the party’s governing body may transfer it to a candidate from any regional group, the source said.
Kara-ool, 60, chaired Tuva’s Supreme Khural from 1998 to 2002 and later worked in the regional government. In 2007, the regional parliament approved him as head of the republic after President Vladimir Putin proposed his candidacy. He led Tuva until 2021, then resigned and was elected to the State Duma. He served as a United Russia deputy speaker in the previous convocation.