Mari elected to parliament of Mari El

On 1 October, the first session of the 8th Parliament of the newly elected Republic of Mari El took place. The session elected its leaders and presidium. The Hill Mari Mikhail Vasyutin, previously First Deputy Head of State of the Republic of Mari El, was unanimously elected Speaker of the Parliament. Prior to that, he served for a long time as Minister of Culture and National Policy of Mari El. He also headed the cultural department of the city of Yoshkar-Ola. His deputy chairwoman is Larissa Yakovleva, who started her career as the head of the Mari People’s Congress. She has since served as deputy education minister, elected to both the local parliament and the State Duma of the Russian Federation. She is currently head of the federal Mari cultural autonomy. The Meadow Mari Aleksandr Smirnov was elected as his second deputy, having headed the Mari El branch of the United Russia party and having previously been elected to the Mari Parliament. He has recently distinguished himself by delivering humanitarian aid to Mari volunteers fighting in Ukraine.

Other parliamentary figures

Seven committees will be set up in the Mari Parliament. At least one – the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee – will be headed by Eduard Aleksandrov. He is currently the head of the Mari Council (Mari Kanash) elected at the Mari People’s Congress – onyoyozha. However, a number of other leading figures of the Mari national movement have been elected to the Mari Parliament. For example, the Chairman of the Mari National Congress, the Hill Mari Eduard Imanayev. Thus, as can be seen, the leaders of the Mari national movement, under the total control of the state power, are successfully involved in the distribution of the state cake. It now remains to be seen whether the educational and cultural interests of the Mari will be better protected.