In Russia, direct mayoral elections have been almost entirely abolished: residents will vote in only two regions
Kyiv • UNN
Khabarovsk has abolished direct mayoral elections, leaving them only in Abakan and Anadyr. Officials will be elected by deputies upon the governor’s nomination.
Russia continues to roll back local self-government. The Khabarovsk City Duma abolished direct mayoral elections, after which only 2 administrative centers of regions in the country remained where residents can independently elect the head of the city. The Moscow Times reports this, writes UNN.
Details
Under Khabarovsk’s new charter, the mayor will now be elected by deputies upon the nomination of the regional governor. Local authorities explained the changes as being required by federal legislation.
Andriy Beloglazov, chairman of the City Duma, even compared the new system with the practices of tsarist Russia. According to him, 123 years ago, Khabarovsk residents lived under a similar charter, when the mayor was elected by representatives of local self-government.
Where direct mayoral elections still remain in Russia
Following the decision in Khabarovsk, among the administrative centers of Russia’s regions, direct mayoral elections remain only in Abakan, Khakassia, with a population of about 184,000, and Anadyr, Chukotka, where approximately 13,000 people live.
The last popularly elected mayor of Khabarovsk, Sergey Kravchuk, resigned back in September after being elected as a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party.
In the early 2000s, residents of most of Russia’s regional capitals elected mayors themselves. However, following legislative changes in 2003, the authorities gradually transferred the right to appoint city leaders to deputies. By the mid-2010s, direct elections remained in fewer than 20 such cities.
In March 2025, the Russian authorities adopted a new law on local self-government that effectively enshrined the abandonment of direct elections in regional capitals. By the end of that year, mayoral elections had been abolished in Yakutsk, and a similar decision has now been made in Khabarovsk.