Last Sunday, 4 October, repeat elections for the heads of the rural settlements of the village of Pervomaiskoye and the Kayakent rural district in the Kayakent District were held in the Republic of Dagestan. These are the first elections after the single voting day of 2026.
Both rural settlements are notable for hosting the republic’s largest state-owned agricultural enterprises — the State Unitary Enterprise (GUP) “Caspian” in Pervomaiskoye and the “Kayakentskoye” LLC (until 2024 a GUP of the same name) in the Kayakent rural district, whose lands historically form the core of the vineyard fund of the entire Kayakent District.
There is always fierce competition for the posts of heads of these settlements, and those who occupy them are often implicated in land-plot fraud schemes.
The chaos surrounding the cadastral registration of GUP lands and the demarcation of municipal and state ownership allowed the former heads of the Kayakent rural district to illegally carve out plots from the enterprise’s vast land mass and transfer them for private development.
For example, in 2015 the then incumbent Anvar Guseinov signed unlawful resolutions that effectively removed plots from the GUP’s land fund for transfer as individual housing construction (IHC) lots. In 2020, the head of the Kayakent District, Magomemedemin Gadzhiev, was convicted for land-plot fraud. Also widespread here is so-called “phantom” viticulture — the creation of fictitious plantations on paper for the illegal receipt of large state subsidies.
The main elections for the head of the Kayakent rural district and the village of Pervomaiskoye were held on the single voting day of 20 September, but none of the registered candidates managed to secure more than 50% of the votes of the voters who took part in the election.
The favorite in the election for head of the village of Pervomaiskoye in September was the incumbent, United Russia candidate Musa Kurbanov. In January 2026, Kurbanov joined the “SKIF” volunteer battalion of the “Terek” brigade, signing a six-month contract to participate in the “special military operation.”
On 20 September he received 34.9% of the vote. He was opposed by nine self-nominated candidates, the best result among whom (20.4%) was obtained by the temporarily unemployed Kurban Murtazaliev. He became Musa Kurbanov’s opponent in the repeat election.
In the end, the incumbent head Musa Kurbanov retained his post with great difficulty: he won, receiving 53% of the vote against 45% for Kurban Murtazaliev.
Four registered candidates took part in the September election for head of the Kayakent rural district: three self-nominees and a United Russia representative, local council deputy Islamutdin Kairov.
Real competition here proved quite strong, which also made it impossible to avoid a second round. The last-place finisher, deputy head of the rural district Magomedshamil Bairambekov, won 17.4%. Third was Islamutdin Kairov with 20.5% of the vote. First and second places went respectively to Zalimkhan Musaev (34.9%) and Khalilbaiin Teleev (27%); they became the candidates in the repeat election last Sunday.
As in September, the results of the election saw Zalimkhan Musaev prevail over Khalilbaiin Teleev: 57% of voters cast their ballots for him.
4 October in Russia
Four candidates competed for the post of head of two municipalities:
1 from United Russia;
3 self-nominees.
According to the election results, the posts of head went to:
1 from United Russia;
1 self-nominee.