According To Preliminary Results, Valery Kokov Is Elected President Of Kabardino-balkaria For The Third Term

Valery Kokov, according to the preliminary results, has been elected President of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (a republic in the North Caucasus) for the third term. As RIA Novosti was told on Monday in the republican election commission, 87.18 percent of the constituents voted for Valery Kokov at the last Sunday elections. There were five other contenders for the presidency. Altogether, more than 87 percent of the constituents put on voting lists took part in the elections. Valery Mukhamedovich Kokov, a Kabardinian, was born on October 18th, 1941 in the town of Tyrnyauz in Kabardino-Balkaria. He graduated from the Kabardino-Balkarian State University in 1964, completed a post-graduate course at the All-Union Research Institute of the Economy of Agriculture and a correspondence course at the Higher Party School of the CPSU Central Committee in the city of Rostov in 1978. Kokov is a candidate of Economic Sciences. He began his working career as an agronomist at the Trudovoi Gorets Collective Farm in the Baksan district. In 1990-1991 was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet and First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the republic. Since 1992 - President of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. On January 12th, 1997 was re-elected for a second term. Kokov is married and has two children.