SAMARA, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - The legislature of the Samara Region on Russia's Volga has approved the head of local automaker AvtoVAZ as governor, following the president's nomination.
CEO Vladimir Artyakov was appointed by the President Vladimir Putin as acting governor on Monday, and nominated for governorship pending legislators' approval, in accordance with Russian laws.
The new governor will succeed Konstantin Titov, who had held the post since 1991. A Kremlin source said earlier that Titov, who submitted his letter of resignation voluntarily, may take on another high-level post.
AvtoVAZ (RTS: AVAZ), based in Togliatti in the Samara Region, is Russia's largest car producer. A spokesman for AvtoVAZ Group said earlier the company had appointed Alexander Pronin, the company's first vice president, as acting head of the auto giant in place of Artyakov.
Arkyatov told journalists after the vote that his first priority would be to formulate a development program for the Samara Region, concerning "social as well as environmental issues, and the development of industrial potential."
The head of AvtoVAZ, 48, was confirmed as governor with 41 votes in the 50-seat legislature. More than 50% of the members of a regional legislature must approve a nominee in order for the candidate to become governor, under a Putin-proposed 2004 law that abolished gubernatorial elections and gave the president the right to nominate candidates.
