| Eduard Rossel always wants to be governor Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Eduard Rossel announced the possibility of his election for a fourth term. On the eve of going on another pre-election leave (the head of the region heads the list of United Russia in the elections to the regional Duma, which will be held on March 14), Mr. Rossel decided to answer questions from residents of the region during a direct line in the Regional Newspaper. Answering a question from one of the readers about the possibility of his early resignation, the governor admitted: “I have always worked for the benefit of the Sverdlovsk region. And I will serve for the current four-year term, and if the residents of the region trust me, then for the full eight years.”
In political circles, the statement became a real sensation - the fact that Russian and regional legislation gives Mr. Rossel the opportunity to be elected for a fourth term has been known for a long time, but no one could have imagined that the 66-year-old governor would do this. Regional Duma deputy Konstantin Karyakin believes that the reference to the wishes of voters is another PR move by the head of the region. Two years ago, at a meeting with industrialists, Eduard Rossel also said that he would run for a third term only if voters supported him. When the moment of nomination arrived, the regional authorities did not hold any public meetings, but simply began the election campaign.
Mr. Karyakin is confident that Mr. Rossel's new statement is quite comparable with the previous one and in 2007 we can expect another nomination for governor in the elections. He believes that the issue of age - by the end of his fourth term the head of the region will be 70 years old - does not bother anyone in power.
True, there is another version of the development of events. There is a very popular opinion among industrialists and politicians that with his statement the governor wanted to put in place the team of his deputy, chairman of the regional government Alexei Vorobyov. In early January, personnel changes took place in the governor's administration, as a result of which representatives of Mr. Vorobyov's team came to real power, while his opponents were removed from the regional government and administration.
These changes were associated with Mr. Rossel's plans to resign and transfer power to his deputy. According to this version, early elections could be called as early as this year. However, Alexey Vorobyov’s team was let down by their confidence in victory: the story about the imminent change of power and the strengthening of the prime minister became so popular that individual financial and industrial groups (for example, the regional gas market monopolist Uralsevergaz) began to invite to their events not Mr. Rossel, but Mr. on Vorobyov. Opponents of the idea of the prime minister inheriting power, which includes the first deputy head of the governor’s administration, Alexander Levin, took advantage of the moment and hastened to inform the head of the region about the “unworthy” behavior of the “heir.” The governor, not accustomed to sharing power with anyone, decided to cool the ardor of his successor and announced his desire to serve a fourth term. Mikhail VIUGIN, Ekaterinburg |
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