The Astrakhan City Duma was unable to elect the mayor of the city due to the fact that there was no one to choose from

In Astrakhan, it was not possible to hold elections for the head of the city administration due to the fact that members of United Russia did not come to the competition, writes Kommersant. Since 2014, the city has not held direct elections for the mayor; he is appointed by the Astrakhan Duma. At the last minute, journalists were prohibited from attending interviews with candidates.

Three candidates applied for the post: kindergarten director Yulia Khaibulina, 21-year-old Evgeniy Volynkin from the LDPR and Andrei Gabrielov representing A Just Russia. Khaibulina announced the withdrawal of her candidacy at her own request, Volynkin was recognized as insufficiently experienced and educated (although he graduated from the V.V. Zhirinovsky University of World Civilizations).

As a result, only Gabrielov remained, but since his only potential rival, the acting mayor of Astrakhan from United Russia Nazar Kucheruk, did not come to the commission (like the rest of United Russia), the elections were declared invalid. According to the rules of the competition, at least two competitors must participate in it. A new date for the competition will be set at the next meeting of the City Duma.

A competition to fill the post of head of administration was announced in early August after the resignation of Mayor Oleg Polumordvinov, who is in jail on suspicion of fraud. Now Kucheruk remains the interim acting head of the city.