Last Sunday, 16 November, local government elections were held in three Russian regions. Deputies were elected to two representative bodies of a municipal formation and the head of one municipality was elected. In Karelia, the elections did not take place.
Republic of Karelia: nobody wants to be elected
Here, elections were supposed to be held for the head of the Luusalmi rural settlement and a deputy of the Council of the Ambarny rural settlement. However, the elections were postponed due to a lack of competition.
A new attempt to hold the vote is expected to take place on 21 December.
It is worth noting that the Ambarny rural settlement has been headless since 2023. On the single voting day of 14 September, the election of the head of the village was scheduled for the ninth time and, finally, took place. And all thanks to Anastasia Makarova, a native and resident of Moscow, whose candidacy in the election was nominated by the Greens party. Thus, Veronika Svirskaya, a representative of the Pensioners’ Party who had been registered multiple times before, finally had a competitor, whom she ultimately defeated in the voting.
However, the story was not destined to end: the elected Svirskaya refused to take up the post.
Republic of Khakassia: candidates nobody needs
After the election of deputies to the Priiskovy Village Council of the Ordzhonikidzevsky District on the single voting day of 2025 in September, three seats remained vacant, as five candidates received not a single vote from voters — they were not supported by family members, neighbours, or even themselves. As a result, repeat elections were called.
Five self-nominated candidates took part in the vote that was held, among whom two — pensioners Tatyana Salikayeva and Alexander Shadrin — were deputies of the previous convocation. Following the voting, both were re-elected for a new term. The third seat went to boiler-house operator Vladimir Smal.
Republic of Buryatia: a replacement in Kabansky District
A by-election for a deputy of the Council of Kabansky District was held in the region. The seat became vacant due to the death of self-nominated candidate Alexei Kuptsov.
Two candidates contested the seat: one from United Russia and one from the LDPR. Following the voting, the United Russia candidate won.
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): competition among non-party candidates
In the Srednekolymsky Ulus of the republic, an election was held for the head of the Myatissky 2nd Nasleg of Srednekolymsky Ulus. It had previously been postponed due to a lack of registered candidates: self-nominated candidate Rodion Tyrylgyn did not submit signature sheets, and Vasily Mossoyenov, nominated by United Russia, withdrew his candidacy by personal application.
This time, three self-nominated candidates contested the post. The victory was won by Nikolai Sleptsov, an electrician at PJSC Rostelecom.
16 November in Russia
Three self-nominated candidates contested the post of head of a municipality.
Seven candidates contested four deputy seats in the representative bodies of two municipalities in majoritarian electoral districts.
Total since the start of the new electoral cycle
After the single voting day of 14 September 2025, seven electoral campaigns for the election of heads of municipalities have been held.
Elections of deputies to 35 local representative bodies have been held, with 179 deputy seats being filled.
