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Vladivostok abolishes direct mayoral elections
The city council in Vladivostok has abolished direct mayoral elections. According to new amendments to the city’s charter, passed on February 19, Vladivostok’s city councilmen will choose the next mayor from among their own ranks by secret ballot. The mayor will also serve as the city council’s speaker.
Lawmakers also created a “city manager” post, an appointed position with several mayor-like duties.
“The amendments have been adopted by a majority vote,” the city council’s press office told Interfax.
- Vladivostok’s current mayor, Igor Pushkarev, won his office in a general election on September 8, 2013. His term doesn’t expire until 2018.
- In November 2014, the legislative assembly in Primorsky Krai adopted a new law installing city managers throughout the territory. These positions, like the new post in Vladivostok, are appointed.
- Vladivostok’s most famous mayor is probably Viktor Cherepkov, who headed the city from 1993 to 1994 and again between 1996 and 1998. After falling afoul of the regional governor, President Boris Yeltsin fired Cherepkov in 1994. The Duma, however, demanded that Yeltsin’s decision be reversed, and a court later overturned the executive order, reinstating Cherepkov in 1996 for the rest of his term. In 2013, Cherepkov ran for mayor of Vladivostok again, but came in second to the city’s current mayor, Sergei Pushkarev.
- Federal law allows cities to determine locally how mayors are selected: through general elections or city council secret ballot. Moscow and St. Petersburg, which are special legal entities in Russia, also have directly elected governors.