Chirikova runs for mayor

Evgenia Chirikova will run for mayor of Khimki. The official nomination of the leader of the defenders of the Khimki Forest took place in the “Good Camp” of ecologists in the forest near Moscow. Alexei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov and Dmitry Gudkov came to support Chirikova.

The environmental rally began with a political part. “I propose that we all nominate Evgenia Chirikova as a people’s candidate for mayor of the city of Khimki. Not the opposition, but the people’s,” the founder of “RosPil” Alexey Navalny opened the “Good Camp”. “Well done Chirikova, we will work for her victory,” promised another oppositionist, leader of the Left Front Sergei Udaltsov. “I support this decision; there is no better candidate, a single candidate from the opposition, from the people, from all of us,” he added. Udaltsov promised to hold negotiations with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia so that the parties would not nominate their candidates.

Chirikova herself is confident that her example “will inspire many in other regions of the country.” “We need to take power into our own hands and make the country normal,” she said. But she added that the decision was difficult for her, since she never aspired to power.

Khimki, in her opinion, needs to change its development concept and move away from the “parasitic scenario of selling natural resources.” “If the federal authorities made a mistake, then the task of any normal citizen is to correct them. And I will do this, and the mayor’s post will provide me with more opportunities for this,” she added.

Evgenia Chirikova, who already ran for the post of mayor in Khimki in 2009 (then Vladimir Strelchenko won, and the leader of the movement “In Defense of the Khimki Forest” gained about 15%), is confident that the population will be able to stir up the vote. She asked everyone who came to the “Good Camp” for support and help in campaigning: “I can honestly say that I have no money,” “I need to go from house to house, like Gandhi did.”

On August 17, the mayor of Khimki, Vladimir Strelchenko, resigned. The reasons for this decision are not reported. Strelchenko wrote his resignation letter after a meeting with the governor of the Moscow region, Sergei Shoigu. First Deputy Governor of the Tula Region Oleg Shakhov was appointed acting head of the city. The mayoral elections will take place on October 14, a single voting day.