ABSTRACT
This chapter provides all basic political, economic, and demographic data on every territorial unit of the Russian Federation, its local government structure, regional politics and electoral history through the spring 2000 elections and the summer 2000 reorganization of the Novosibirsk Oblast. Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the south of the West Siberian plain and borders Omsk, Tomsk, and Kemerovo oblasts, Altai Krai, and Kazakhstan. The oblast covers most of the Baraba lowland to the west of the middle Ob River, the north of which is in swampy taiga turning southward into forest steppe and steppe with numerous lakes. The oblast is fairly rich in mineral resources such as peat, oil, marble, limestone, anthracite, and mineral and thermal waters. Former Governor Mukha had a good working relationship with the oblast legislature. Communists won 28 of the 49 seats in the legislature in December 1997.
