TBILISI - Special elections for Adjaria's Supreme Council (legislature) will be held June 20, the interim Council decided Thursday. It will step down after the elections.

Unconfirmed information suggests that the new parliament will consist of 30 deputies, 18 of whom will be chosen by proportional representation and 12 by ordinary majorities. The deputies would then choose their own leader. Informed sources say the likely speaker will be a Batumi native, Levan Varshalomidze, 32, who has the support of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and is Saakashvili's official representative in Batumi. Varshalomidze is also currently chairman of Georgia's Railway Department.

Meanwhile, the interim parliament voted Thursday on the future structure of the Adjarian executive branch, reducing the number of ministries from 18 to five in line with the central government's push to reduce the size of the autonomy budget and its bureaucracy.