Oorzhak graduated from the
Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural academy in 1971. From 1971 until 1980, he worked as an economist at and later the director of a government-owned farm (
sovkhoz) in his hometown of . In 1983, he became an activist in the Tuvan branch of the Communist Party. He graduated from Novosibirsk High Communist Party School in 1985. From December 1986, he was First Secretary in the Tuvan branch of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making him Tuva's de facto leader. He was a three-time deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the
Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1990 to 1992, he was Chairman of the
Council of Ministers (i.e. Prime Minister) of
Tuva ASSR. In 1990, he was elected people's deputy of
RSFSR. In August 1991, he was defeated by
Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei in the race for Chairman of the
Supreme Soviet of
Tuva ASSR. On 15 March 1992, he was
elected to be President of the
Republic of Tuva. In 1993 he was the head of the Constitutional Commission of
Tuva (the Constitution was adopted on 21 October 1993). In 1997, he was
re-elected as president. According to the Tuvan constitution, Tuva was "an independent state in association with Russia" and could "declare war and sign international agreements of its own will". During the revision of Russian regional constitutions in 2000, these phrases were removed from the document. The political career of Oorzhak became uncertain after this, leading him to demonstrate his allegiance to the Kremlin by appointing
Sergei Pugachev and
Lyudmila Narusova to the
Federation Council as representatives of Tuva. In 2001, the newly adopted Tuvan constitution eliminated the position of President, replacing it with the title Head of Republic, enabling Oorzhak to avoid the two-term limit enforced on the president. On 17 March 2002, with 53% of the vote, he was
elected as Head of the Republic and changed his title from President to Head of Republic. He resigned from his position on 6 April 2007 and
Sholban Kara-ool was appointed in his place. == Death ==