The number of candidates for the post of city mayor has been reduced to nine

Yesterday, the Sochi election commission granted the petition of the vice-president of the Krasnodar regional fund for the development of physical education and sports "Athletic" Viktor Davlashyan to refuse to participate in the elections of the head of the city administration, which will be held on April 25. After his candidacy is removed from the ballot, voters will have to choose a mayor from nine candidates. As Yuri Rykov, chairman of the Sochi election commission, told Kommersant, Viktor Davlashyan’s statement was received by the election commission the day before. “The commission reviewed Davlashyan’s application and granted his request,” said Yuri Rykov. Now the commissions will have to cross out his name from the already printed ballots. This is already the second candidate for mayor of Sochi who leaves the race halfway without explanation. On March 25, at the initial stage of the election race, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Zvyagin, whose rating in Sochi is quite high, which was confirmed by the elections to the Kuban parliament, sent a statement to withdraw his candidacy.

According to Sochi political scientists, unlike Mr. Zvyagin, Viktor Davlashyan did not pose a serious competition to the leaders of the election race. Among them remains Viktor Kolodyazhny, a protégé of Kuban Governor Alexander Tkachev, who served as mayor of Sochi for two months before the start of the election marathon. He was appointed to this position after the governor invited the former head of the city administration, Leonid Mostovoy, to leave the post of mayor to work in the Federation Council.

Viktor Kolodyazhny will compete with another member of the Legislative Assembly, Alexei Gorbunov, who has already stood as a candidate in the mayoral elections, but lost to Leonid Mostovoy. Political scientists credit Alexey Gorbunov with a fairly powerful protest electorate in Sochi. Deputy of the City Assembly Semyon Uchadze, who heads the Georgian diaspora, also has a good rating. Political scientists are also observing activation on the part of Sochi administration specialist Valery Bashkov, who until recently remained in the shadows.

Also vying for the post of mayor are Nikolai Akelkin, leading specialist of the city property management committee, little known to voters, Valery Bashkov, chief specialist of the Sochi mayor's office, lawyer Yuri Belousov, unemployed Tatyana Kostinikova, pensioner Nikolai Matsukov and general director of the Municipal Unitary Enterprise "Housing and Communal Services of the Tuapse District" Maxim Nechitailo.

It is worth noting that the so-called “administrative resource” plays in Viktor Kolodyazhny’s favor: acting. The mayor, in particular, is actively using his capabilities to carry out repairs to the city’s housing and communal services facilities. However, based on the experience of previous campaigns, these efforts are unlikely to force the protest electorate, to which approximately 20% of voters belong, to vote for him.

NINA SEMENENKO, Sochi

Kommersant (Rostov) No. 64 from 04/09/2004, p. 12

Sochi residents are losing candidates