MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin has nominated Viktor Kress, the incumbent governor of the Tomsk Region in West Siberia, for a fifth term, the Kremlin press service said Monday.
Kress became governor of the Tomsk Region in 1991. He was re-elected to the post in 1995, 1999 and 2003.
A Putin-sponsored 2004 law canceled gubernatorial elections and gave the president the right to nominate candidates. Nominees must receive the backing of more than 50% of local lawmakers.
Rights groups in Russia and abroad have criticized the law as undemocratic.
Under the new scheme, some regional leaders approach the president before the end of their terms, asking to be recommended to local parliaments.
