Deputies of Astrakhan City Duma propose to abolish direct election of City Mayor

On October 27, MPs of the Astrakhan City Duma formulated and introduced to the regional Duma the amendments to the regional bill on the formation of local self-administrations in the region. According to those amendments, the Mayor of the regional centre is to be elected from the MPs. Such a formulation was supported by the majority of the Astrakhan City Duma MPs. This was reported by a message posted on the website of the Astrakhan City Parliament.

The message notes that at present, the bill is considered by the MPs of the Astrakhan Regional Duma only in the first reading, and the second reading is scheduled for November 11.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that similar laws abolishing the direct elections of mayors of municipalities, including mayors of the regional centres, were also adopted in several other regions of Russia, including the Rostov Region, Volgograd Region, and Dagestan.

It should be noted that this April, Oleg Shein, the leader of the local branch of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, has announced his intention to initiate a regional referendum to preserve the elections of the Mayor of Astrakhan and MPs of the City Duma, which can be abolished as a part of a local government reform. On May 21, activists filed an application to the city election commission for registration of the initiative group to prepare the local referendum. On June 17, however, MPs of the Astrakhan City Duma refused to support the initiative.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.