SIMFEROPOL, October 9. /TASS/. Lawmakers of the State Council of the Russian republic of Crimea have elected acting head Sergey Aksyonov as republican leader for the next five years on Thursday. All 75 members of regional parliament voted for him.

Local minister of ecology and natural resources Gennady Naraev and Russian lawmaker Alexander Terentyev also vied for the post of Crimean chief executive, but they did not gain a single vote.

Russian republican Crimea’s State Council decided that Aksyonov will combine the posts of republican head and chairman of the regional Council of Ministers. The Crimean Constitution stipulated such an option.

Aksyonov has earlier agreed to combine these posts. “As legitimately elected head of the Russian Republic of Crimea, I decided to combine the posts of the head and prime minister in the republic,” he told lawmakers on Thursday.