In a number of Russian regions, the restoration of direct elections of mayors has been announced

Russian regions have begun to actively abolish the institution of city managers, returning to direct elections of mayors. This process began in Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Volgograd, Kursk, and Perm. Earlier, the intention to return to the elections of heads was announced in Ulyanovsk and Miass. The reason was a signal from the federal authorities and mass protests in the regions.

In Kazan, the United Russia faction in the city duma intends to come up with a corresponding initiative in the near future and amend the city charter. “We have always advocated the return of direct elections of the city mayor,” faction head Nadyr Karimov told Kommersant. However, since 2005, the head of Kazan has been elected by secret ballot from among the deputies, and city Duma deputies, despite the demands of residents, refused to consider the issue of returning to direct elections. Ilsur Metshin holds the second term as mayor of Kazan.

The new governor of the Volgograd region, Sergei Bozhenov, intends to hold direct elections for the mayor of the regional center in 2013. In Volgograd, the institution of a city manager was introduced in the spring of 2011 - on the initiative of the ex-governor of the region Anatoly Brovko after he removed the elected mayor Roman Grebennikov from office. However, a city manager has not been appointed; city management has been led by interim manager Sergei Sokolov since February last year.

In the near future, the Kursk authorities may also return to popular mayoral elections, abolished in 2007. Several sources in the administration and city assembly of Kursk reported this to Kommersant. According to them, a special commission is already completing the development of a new city charter, which would involve abandoning the institution of a city manager. “The document is ready, only the main part is missing, concerning direct elections of the head of the city. We are waiting for an unambiguous signal from the federal government about the need to return elections,” a source in the mayor’s office told Kommersant. And city manager Nikolai Ovcharov, who has been managing the administration since 2007, according to another source in the mayor’s office, “wants to become a fully legitimate head through elections,” but is waiting for “changes that may follow after March 4.” It is possible that the new composition of the Kursk city assembly will return to direct elections, elections to which are expected to be held in October 2012. “The current composition of the assembly is very divided; none of the groups wants to make such drastic movements,” explained one of the deputies.

The governor of the Perm region, Oleg Chirkunov, also promised to support the holding of a referendum on the return of elections for the mayor of Perm. This, in particular, was what the participants of the rally “For Fair Elections” on February 4 sought. Changes to the city government system occurred in 2005. In 2006, Igor Shubin was elected head of Perm, who also headed the city council, and the first vice-governor Arkady Katz became the city manager.

The Sverdlovsk region also announced its intention to return the elections, canceled in 2010 on the initiative of Governor Alexander Misharin. As the leader of the Sverdlovsk party in power, Viktor Sheptiy, told Kommersant, the regional branch invites Yekaterinburg Duma deputies from the United Russia faction to consider the possibility of returning to direct elections of the head of the municipality. According to him, United Russia members came to this decision after reading another article by Vladimir Putin on the development of democracy. “It is necessary for deputies to carefully consider the possibility of amending the charter. And we will support their decision,” concluded Viktor Sheptiy. At the same time, United Russia members are dissatisfied with the work of Valentina Isaeva, the elected mayor of one of the largest cities in the Sverdlovsk region - Nizhny Tagil. According to Mr. Sheptia, local government does not control “management companies; the city has a low quality of transport services and a terrible condition of roads.” Because of this, Sverdlovsk United Russia members intend to raise the issue of expelling Mrs. Isaeva from the party.

Let us recall that the institute of city manager has been introduced in almost a third of Russian municipalities, including 44 regional capitals. The first to announce their intention to return to direct elections of mayors were Ulyanovsk and Miass (Chelyabinsk region). The reason for this was “an insufficiently effective mechanism for monitoring the activities of hired heads of administration on the part of the city assembly and the negative attitude of 85% of residents towards the incomprehensible “two-headed” management system” (see Kommersant on January 26 ).

However, in some regions they are still trying to introduce the institution of a city manager. Thus, the Samara City Duma will have to consider a bill abolishing direct elections of the mayor. The author of the project, non-party deputy Sergei Bogdanov, insists on the need to introduce two-headed management: political power in the city should be exercised by the head of the city elected from the City Duma, and a manager hired through a competition should be in charge of the economy. By the way, in 2005, the Samara parliament approved the corresponding amendments to the city charter, but they were not adopted due to mass protests.

Policy Department

Straight lines are returned in parallel