Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Seleznyov, who headed the second State Duma or lower house of parliament, was re-elected speaker of the third Duma Tuesday evening.

He was nominated by the Communist Party faction and was supported by 285 deputies, with two votes against and seven abstentions.

Earlier, after all contenders, including Sergei Stepashin from the Yabloko bloc, Yevgeny Primakov from Fatherland-All Russia and Viktor Pokhmelkin from the Union of Right-Wing Forces, announced their withdrawal from the race late Tuesday, Seleznyov remained the only candidate to chair the State Duma.

Seleznyov was born in the town of Serov, Sverdlovsk region, on November 6, 1947, and graduated from the Leningrad State University in 1974.

He was a young communist league functionary from 1968 to 1980, editor-in-chief of the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily, the Uchitelskaya Gazeta weekly, the Pravda daily and the Pravda Rossii weekly and a member of the State Duma of the first and second convocations.

He worked as speaker of the lower house of the second convocation during 1996-1999, and was elected deputy of the State Duma of the third convocation in December 1999.

He has been member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party since 1996. He is married and has a daughter.