Updated: 21.11.2003

Irina Khakamada, Russian politician, deputy Duma speaker and co-chairwoman of the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS).

Irina Khakamada was born in Moscow on 13 April 1955. She received her candidate's degree in economics from Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow in 1978 and spent five years teaching. In 1989-93, Khakamada engaged in a variety of business and charitable activities.

In 1993, she was elected to the State Duma from a single-mandate district in Moscow. In 1995, she was re-elected from another Moscow district. In the Duma, she was a member of the Russian Regions faction.

In October 1997, Khakamada left the Duma to head the government's Committee for the Support and Development of Small Business, but that committee was dissolved in September 1998.

In December 1999, Khakamada was again elected to the Duma from the 207th single-mandate district in St. Petersburg, and in May 2000 she replaced Boris Nemtsov as deputy Duma speaker. In May 2001, she was elected co-chairwoman of the SPS.

In the 7 December 2003 Duma elections, Khakamada will occupy the No. 2 spot on the SPS party list and will run in St. Petersburg's 209th single-mandate district, where she will be running against Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev.

Related links:

SPS official site