Chita Oblast

Table of Contents

• Candidates for October Gubernatorial Election
• Other Local Leaders
• Brief Overview
• Basic Facts
• 1996 Presidential Election
• 1995 Parliamentary Election
• 1993 Parliamentary Election
• 1993 Constitutional Referendum
• 1991 Presidential Election

Candidates for the 27 October Gubernatorial Election

Governor Ravil Geniatullin was appointed in February 1996, replacing Boris Ivanov who was removed from this post in January of this year. From 1992, Geniatullin had served as administration head of the oblast's capital city Chita.

The incumbent's main challengers are believed to be Yaroslav Shvyryaev, the director of the joint-stock company "Chitaenergostroi", and Viktor Kurochkin, editor of a regional newspaper and co-chairman of the Democratic Russia movement. Kurochkin, who was elected to the Federation Council in 1993, won a Duma seat in the December parliamentary election from a Chita single-member constituency.

Two other State Duma deputies, Communist-backed Viktor Kolesnikov, who was elected to the current parliament on the Agarian party ticket and Vladimir Bogatov, a member of the LPDR faction, who was previously leader of the regional Liberal Democratic Party are also joining the race.

Other Local Leaders

Chairman of the Duma - Vitalii Vishnyakov (since April 1994)

Brief Overview

Chita Oblast, located in the Transbaikal region of Sibiria, shares a common border with Mongolia and China, the latter constituted by the Argin River. The oblast's territory with its complex mountain ranges, plateaus and valleys stretches northward to the Patom Mountains. The Argin and Shilka rivers, tributaries of the Amur River, run through the oblast. Most of the area is covered by larch taiga, partly on permafrost soils, with the exception of the southern depressions, where steppe vegetation on black earth soils allows livestock (sheep) rearing and some grain growing. The most important economic sector is the exploitation of mineral resources, particularly of gold.

The Trans-Sibirian Railroad functions as the main axis of communication. The area of the oblast, first entered by Cossacks in the 1650s, includes the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug.

Basic Facts

1995 Population: 1,299,00 (0.88% of Russian total)

Industrial production as percentage of all Russian production (Jan.-Aug. 1995): 0.29%

Agricultural production as percentage of all Russian production (1994): 0.78%

Average personal income index in July 1995: 78 (Russia as a whole = 100)

Price basket index in July 1995: 133 (Russia = 100)

Average back wages owed per person (September 1995): 120,000 rubles (Russian average = 37,100)

Urban population: 63.1% (Russia overall: 73.0%)

Student population (1993): 83 per 10,000 (Russia overall: 171/10,000)

Pensioner population (1994): 18.25%

Percent of population with higher education (1989 census): 10.3% (Russia overall: 11.3%)

Percent of population working in (1993):

• Industry: 20.0% (Russian average: 29.9%)
• Agriculture: 17.0% (12.8%)
• Trade: 9.5% (9.1%)
• Culture: 13.5% (13.6%)
• Management: 3.3% (2.3%)

Number of telephones per 100 families (1993):

• in cities: 20.8 (Russian average: 41.5)
• in villages: 14.8 (17.2)

According to a survey by Bank Austria, the oblast was ranked 70th among Russia's 89 regions on investment climate.

Data compiled by Silja Haas and Anna Paretskaya

Sources

Goroda Rossii [Cities of Russia], Moscow: Bolshaya Rossiiskaya Entsiklopediya, 1994
Rossiiskie regiony nakanune vyborov-95 [Russian regions on the eve of 1995 elections], Moscow: Yuridicheskaya Literatura, 1995.
Itogi vyborov 17 dekabrya 1995 goda po regionam [Results of the 17 December 1995 elections, regional breakdown], Moscow: Panorama, 1996.
Vybory deputatov Gosudarstvennoi Dumy 1995 [State Duma elections 1995], Moscow: Central Electoral Commission, 1996.
S.A. Nagaev and A.Woergoetter: Regional Risk Rating in Russia, Vienna: Bank Austria, 1995.