For the right mayors

The next step to strengthen the vertical of power could be the abolition of mayoral elections. United Russia advocates that city governors be appointed by city legislative assemblies.

The first deputy head of the United Russia faction in the Duma, Vladimir Pekhtin, told the ITAR-TASS agency on October 14 that, given the abolition of the mandatory turnout threshold, municipal elections threaten the rise of ineffective mayors to power. “It is much more reasonable when a so-called contract is concluded between the city manager and the city legislative body, by analogy with the approval of gubernatorial candidates on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation. The level of responsibility of managers increases many times over,” Pekhtin said. True, he added that there is no need to rush into this.