Chechnya pro-Moscow strongman elected president

GROZNY, Russia, Mar 2 (Reuters) Chechnya's parliament rubber-stamped on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin's nomination of a regional strongman accused by critics of human rights abuses as new president of the troubled province.

A joint session of parliament's two chambers elected Ramzan Kadyrov with 56 supporting votes, one against and one abstention.

''As nature blossoms in spring, so our republic will blossom under the leadership of young and talented leader Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov,'' one deputy told parliament before the vote, prompting a round of applause.

Kadyrov, who controls his own security force, has been de facto ruler of Chechnya despite holding the secondary position of prime minister since his father Akhmad, a Moscow-installed president, was killed by a bomb blast in 2005.

Most analysts have said the Kremlin was waiting for Ramzan Kadyrov to turn 30 last October -- the minimum age for a president -- to formally promote him.

Two Russian military campaigns since 1994 to quell Chechnya's independence drive have reduced the mountainous southern region bordering Georgia to ruins.

Russia says the situation in Chechnya is stabilising despite sporadic fighting between rebels and pro-Moscow forces.

''Our task now is to reconstruct the Chechen republic,'' Kadyrov told parliament before today's vote.

Critics say Ramzan is using his security force, formed mostly from former rebels, and his sweeping powers to rule the region with an iron fist.

Earlier this week, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, said after visiting a Chechen jail that the province used systematic torture.

Kadyrov, who met Hammarberg on Tuesday, said he had not been in charge of human rights protection as prime minister but promised to look into the issue as president.

REUTERS SP BD1846