The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast of the 4th convocation
On March 11, 2007 Tomsk Oblast State Duma of the 4th convocation was elected (it was renamed as the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast by Oblast Law No. 323-OZ of December 27, 2010).
For the first time a legislative body was elected under a mixed-member proportional representation system. Half of the Duma (21 seats) were elected in single-member constituencies, and the other half (21 seats) were elected on party lists.
Five parties were represented in the Duma of the 4th convocation, with the respective deputies elected on party lists: Tomsk Regional Office of the United Russia Political Party (11 seats); Tomsk Regional Office of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (3 seats); Tomsk Regional Office of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (3 seats); Tomsk Regional Office of the Union of Right Forces Political Party (2 seats); Tomsk Regional Office of the Just Russia: Motherland, Pensioners, Life Political Party (2 seats).
The other 21 deputies were elected in single-member electoral districts of equal population (one district – one deputy).
When the Duma was elected, the age of the deputies ranged from 26 to 71 years.
The Duma of the 4th convocation consists of 5 female and 37 male deputies. 24 deputies worked in previous convocations of the Duma, and Nikolay Vyatkin, Boris Maltsev, and Evgeny Rubtsov have worked in all four convocations. 37 deputies work as managing directors and top managers of large enterprises, organizations, firms, and institutions.
All the Duma deputies have a strong academic background, 9 deputies have the Professor title and a Doctor of Sciences degree; 7 deputies have a Candidate of Sciences degree; 11 deputies are full and associate members of international and Russian academies; many deputies are authors of scientific papers and hold patents on inventions; 18 deputies have government awards; 16 deputies have honorary titles; 7 deputies have badges of honor. All of the deputies have various public and professional awards.
For the first time in the history of Tomsk Oblast the majority of the seats (29) in the Oblast Duma were occupied by the United Russia party. The United Russia party expresses the interests of the Oblast population in cooperation with the other parties represented in the Duma of the 4th convocation.
The deputies of the 4th convocation continued working on developing a legal platform to achieve a fairer social situation and robust social security for the people of Tomsk Oblast. The deputies put a particular emphasis on the problem of housing for young families. The Duma supervised implementation of the previously adopted program for promotion of physical education and sport in Tomsk Oblast, and monitored spending under the program. The Law of Tomsk Oblast “On the national youth policy in Tomsk Oblast” was developed and adopted after a parliamentary hearing.
The deputies continued improving the legislation on civil society institutions. The Tomsk Oblast Laws “On guaranteeing equality of political parties represented in the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast when their activity is covered by the regional television and radio channels” and “On providing access to the information on the activity of the public bodies of Tomsk Oblast” were adopted. The deputies adopted the Tomsk Oblast Law “On the Ombudsman for Children in Tomsk Oblast” and, for the first time in the history of the Duma, appointed ombudsmen at a Duma session at the end of 2010.
The deputies of the Duma of the 4th convocation put a lot of effort into creation of prerequisites for transition of the Oblast to an innovative development path. Updated versions of the Tomsk Oblast Laws “On innovation activity in Tomsk Oblast” and “On development of small and medium business in Tomsk Oblast” were adopted. Each year the deputies revisited laws on the Oblast budget expenditure for the investment and innovation activity in the following budget year. Oblast Target Programs “Development of innovation activity in Tomsk Oblast in 2009-2010” and “Development of small and medium business in Tomsk Oblast in 2008-2010” were launched. On December 20, 2007 the Duma adopted its first ever three-year budget, which marked a new step toward better strategic planning of the development of the region.
The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast of the 4th convocation has actively and devotedly worked on creation of a regional regulatory framework which would support further socioeconomic development of Tomsk Oblast.
The legislative experience of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast is often used by the federal law-makers and legislatures in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast is approaching the forthcoming elections with a robust regulatory framework which is vital for the development of Tomsk Oblast.
