Penza, 26 May 2015. PenzaNews. Ivan Belozertsev, who was named acting governor of the Penza region by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, petitioned to resign from his office as the chairman of the regional Legislative Assembly starting on Monday, May 25.

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Currently, the functions of the chairman are performed by its first deputy chairman Valery Lidin, the Legislative Assembly press secretary Tatyana Trapynina informed PenzaNews agency.

According to the regulations of the regional Legislative Assembly, the chairman will be elected from the list of deputies via secret ballot. The closest session of the regional Parliament is scheduled for June 10.

Each deputy may promote a candidate, including themselves.

The promotion procedure precedes the discussion procedure, where every candidate holds a short self-presentation and a Q&A session, and other deputies may vote for or against them.

The voting ballots include all promoted candidates, except those who chose to withdraw from the vote.

The candidate who receives the majority of votes from the deputies becomes the new chairman of the Penza region legislative assembly.

If neither of the promoted candidates gathered a sufficient number of votes, a second tour is held for the two top candidates based on their positions in the first tour.

If the second tour fails to determine the new chairman, the procedure repeats again or is moved to the next session’s agenda.