What a blow!

United Russia was unlucky in Murmansk: in the mayoral elections, self-nominated Sergei Subbotin overtook the party candidate, the current mayor Mikhail Savchenko. According to preliminary data, Subbotin received more than 60%, and Savchenko slightly more than 35% of the votes. About 40% of Murmansk residents turned out for the elections. The party, however, can console itself with victories in the mayoral elections of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Tomsk.

I would, of course, like to present this victory simply as the population’s disagreement with United Russia, but it won’t work. In fact, what happened is the result of a conflict between two administrative resources. Subbotin is the former vice-governor of the Murmansk region, and his candidacy was supported by the current governor Yuri Evdokimov. What’s funny is that Evdokimov himself is a member of United Russia, but apparently he couldn’t come to an agreement with his superiors about the candidate. This conflict has been going on for some time: Evdokimov previously called the party’s methods of fighting for the mayor’s seat shameful. The party promised that it would take away Evdokimov’s party card and remove him from his job.

United Russia does not rule out that it will challenge the election results in court. The Secretary of the Presidium of the General Council, Vyacheslav Volodin, directly stated that Evdokimov spoke in support of one of the candidates on election day. By the way, Subbotin lost in the first round. Meanwhile, the local election commission did not record any gross violations.