Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin to run for re-election on United Russia ticket for first time

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin will run on the ticket of the ruling United Russia party in the city’s upcoming election in September, Russian state media reported on Friday. The party will reportedly nominate him at a conference whose date has not yet been finalized.

Sobyanin has served as the Russian capital’s mayor since 2010, but has previously run for the seat as a self-nominated candidate, despite being a member of United Russia. Pyotr Tolstoy, the head of United Russia’s Moscow branch, told the newspaper Kommersant that the incumbent mayor’s decision was motivated by a desire to promote the “consolidation of society around the president and his party.”