Non-Communist Gets Key Latvia Post
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MOSCOW — The Supreme Soviet of Latvia has approved the appointment of Rajmond Pauls as the republic’s minister of culture, the first ever non-Communist Party member to be named to such a high-level post, the official Tass news agency said Wednesday.
Previously, membership in the party was required for candidates for ministry-level jobs in the Soviet Union’s 15 republics.
Pauls, 52, is a composer of jazz and pop music and a former chief director of the state-run Latvia radio and television network.
Tass said Pauls was nominated for the job at a special meeting of trade unions involved in art, culture and entertainment. The nomination was then approved by the Latvian Supreme Soviet, the republic’s Parliament.
“This is the first case where a non-party man became a republican minister,” Tass said. “The story of appointing Rajmond Pauls a minister conforms with the spirit of our time.”
Pauls said he was eager to shake things up culturally in the republic, which he said was suffering from bureaucratic stagnation.
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