MOSCOW, March 10, 2004 (RIA Novosti) - Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev spoke out against electing a new governor of the Perm region (Russia's Volga Federal District) in the next 18 months.
Mr Trutnev was Perm Governor before he was appointed Natural Resource Minister yesterday.
It would be more appropriate to elect a governor in a year and a half, who will oversee the merger of the Perm region and the neighboring Komi-Perm autonomy, according to Mr Trutnev.
"It will take 6 months to (arrange and) hold the election, another 6 months for a new governor to play in, while within the next 6 months he will be busy preparing for the next election," said Mr Trutnev.
However, he did not rule out that the election might have to be held in the region if a final decision to merge the neighboring constituent entities was not adopted.
