Kasyanov heads up renamed PARNAS, gets three deputies
MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Mikheil Kasyanov has been elected as the sole chairman of the PARNAS Party.
Kasyanov's candidacy was favored by a majority of delegates at a party congress, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The delegates also elected three deputy chairmen: senior party member Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. and party secretary Konstantin Merzlikin.
Kasyanov was the only candidate nominated for the PARNAS party leader. His deputy candidates also included Natalya Pelevina, Grigory Satarov and Olga Shorina. The latter two later withdrew their candidacies.
Earlier the congress delegates narrowly voted (by a single vote) to change the party charter and make amendments changing the structure of the party leadership and replacing the institution of co-chairpersons with a classical chairman and deputy chairmen.
In addition, it was decided at the congress to rename RPR-PARNAS as PARNAS. According to Kasyanov, this name "falls better on the eyes and ears of voters."
