Russian parliament of sixth calling opens

The Russian parliament of the sixth calling has started work. The session was opened by Vladimir Dolgikh, an 87-year old member of the United Russia party, former member of the CPSU, ITAR-TASS reports.

421 MPs attended the session. Dolgikh underlined that the elections on December 4, 2011, were recognized. Other old MPs are Zhores Alferov (CPRF), a laureate of the Nobel Prize, Yuri Selivanov (Fair Russia) and Vladimir Zhirinovski (LDPR).

The parliament is to elect the speaker, vice-speakers and heads of committees.

The elections on December 4 resulted in United Russia receiving 238 mandates (315 at the previous calling), CPRF – 92, Fair Russia – 64 and LDPR – 56. The new parliament will operate for 5 years, rather than 4.

The new parliament will have 29 committees instead of 32. 15 committees will be headed by United Russia, 6 – by the CPRF, 4 – by Fair Russia and the LDPR.