Mayors of regional capitals of Russia will be elected according to the new system

      The President of Russia has signed a new federal law "On the General Principles of Organizing local Self-Government in a unified system of public Authority," which introduces a unified procedure for electing mayors in all administrative centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. This is reported by the newspaper Kommersant.

      According to the new procedure, the heads of regional capitals will be appointed by the representative body of the municipality (the city Duma) from among the candidates proposed by the governor. At the same time, the regional head must propose at least two candidates. Only parliamentary parties represented in the local legislative assembly, the Council of municipalities, the public chamber of the subject and the All-Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government will be able to make proposals to the governor.

      Prior to the entry into force of this law, in most administrative centers, mayors were elected according to a competitive model, and in four cities — Yakutsk, Khabarovsk, Anadyr and Abakan — direct elections were maintained. However, starting from June 19, 2025, this practice will be completely discontinued, and the exclusively "gubernatorial" model of appointing mayors will operate in all regional capitals.

      As Kommersant notes, the bill did not initially provide for such a system. However, later the deputies of Yakutsk proposed to introduce a single principle of electing mayors in all the capitals of the subjects, which was supported at the federal level. As a result, the amendments were taken into account before the second reading, and the final version of the law was adopted by the State Duma on March 5.

      The first cities to be appointed mayors under the new scheme are Cherkessk, Stavropol, Blagoveshchensk, Orel, Arkhangelsk and Nizhny Novgorod. This is due to the fact that the powers of their current mayors expire in 2025.

      According to political analyst Vladimir Slatinov, quoted by Kommersant, the new system minimizes conflicts between regional and municipal authorities that could arise under the previous competitive model. Now the mayor of the regional capital will be completely dependent on the governor, which will allow the latter to strengthen control over the management of key cities.

      As for Kirov, from 1996 to 2005, the city was governed by the head of the administration, who was directly elected.

      In 2005 (June) A new Charter of the municipality was adopted, which provided for the separation of the positions of the head of the city and the head of the city administration (city manager).

      The chairman of the Kirov City Duma was appointed head of the city, who, in turn, was elected from among the deputies. The head of the administration is appointed based on the results of a personnel competition. As a rule, it is the governor's creature that wins.

      According to the Charter, the head of the city represents the municipality in government, in court, receives the population, concludes employment contracts with the head of the administration and with the chairman of the Control and Accounting Chamber. The responsibilities of the city manager include the management of the administration and urban issues.