President Vladimir Putin appointed Senator Svetlana Orlova as acting governor of the Vladimir region, the Kremlin press service reported on Monday. Elections for the head of the region will take place on a single voting day in September 2013.

On Sunday, March 24, the fourth term of office of Nikolai Vinogradov, who served as governor of the Vladimir region since 1997, expired. The head of the region had little chance of retaining his acting status until voting day. In the latest rating of the political survival of governors, he earned a “two” from analysts. Vinogradov was one of the last representatives of the gubernatorial corps who did not have a United Russia membership card, and the only representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation among the leaders of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The former Vladimir governor is a real veteran of the Russian gubernatorial corps. Back in the 1980s, he held high positions in the Vladimir regional committee of the CPSU, then twice - in 1996 and 2000 - he won elections for the head of the region and twice - in 2005 and 2009 - he was re-confirmed in office at the suggestion of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. Theoretically, Vinogradov could again participate in the autumn campaign as a candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

In recent years, the Vladimir region has become one of the most problematic regions for the federal center from an electoral point of view. At the Duma elections in December 2011, United Russia did not reach the 40% threshold in the region, allowed the Communists and Socialist-Revolutionaries close to it, and then also scandalously lost several tens of thousands of votes after the court canceled the voting results in one from closed areas with an abnormally high EP result under 100%.

Senator Orlova represents the Kemerovo region in the upper house of parliament and holds the post of deputy chairman of the Council. She has been involved in legislative activities since the early 1990s. In 1993-1999, the parliamentarian worked in the State Duma, then ran for governor of Primorye, was engaged in scientific activities and business, and since 2001, on the initiative of the head of the Kuzbass administration Aman Tuleyev, she began to represent the region in the Federation Council.

Putin appointed Senator Orlova acting governor of the Vladimir region