Novosibirsk's mayor saves the city's direct mayoral elections by promising not to challenge the incumbent governor this September
Source: Meduza
Anatoly Lokot, the mayor of Novosibirsk, stuck a deal with the region’s acting governor not to run against him in September, in exchange for preserving direct mayoral elections in his city.
The governor even says he’ll endorse Lokot for re-election, now that Lokot has agreed not to challenge him at the polls. “We have many tasks ahead, and we’ll work together on solutions,” acting Governor Andrey Travnikov told reports on Friday.
In May, Lokot’s political party, KPRF, announced that he would seek the governorship in the September elections, where he was expected to be Travnikov’s main rival.