Last Sunday, 5 April, local government elections were held in five Russian regions. Deputies were elected to seven representative bodies of a municipal formation.
Magadan: replacing the extras
Repeat elections to the city duma were held in Magadan in single-mandate districts No. 2 and No. 3, as well as a by-election in district No. 8. The backstory to their scheduling is rather anecdotal.
The main campaign for elections to the local representative body took place on the single voting day of 15 September 2025. According to the results, all mandates went to candidates from United Russia, which came as a surprise to the party of power itself. The fact is that in a number of districts it nominated overtly technical candidates to secure victory for its competitors. However, these plans were not destined to come true: all of them prevailed following the vote. But since these candidates themselves were completely unprepared for such a turn of events and were living their measured lives, some of them declined their deputy mandates.
Thus, in September in district No. 2, United Russia was represented by Dmitry Kiselev, administrator of LLC “Akula”. Having won, he resigned his powers a week after the vote. His boss — the enterprise’s executive director Gennady Dyukarev, representing the Communist Party (CPRF) — also took part in the elections. The second resource candidate in the district was self-nominated Vladimir Zyablikov — director of the Tenkinsky regional operator for municipal solid waste management.
In district No. 3, the winning candidate, supplementary education teacher Vladislav Mikhailov, resigned his powers. The likely favourite here was his rival from the CPRF — Marina Lisovtsova, a deputy of the previous convocation of the city duma. It is noteworthy that she entered the duma in a by-election in 2023 with a turnout of less than 1% of voters, and her only competition at that time was the candidate from A Just Russia, Alexei Shakhurdin. In other words, United Russia also withdrew from the contest then.
Finally, in district No. 8, Anatoly Druzhinin, a methodologist at the Education Quality Monitoring Centre who won unexpectedly for himself, retreated. The mandate here could have been sought by self-nominated Eduard Petrykin, head of the repair and construction section of the Magadan municipal unitary enterprise “Vodokanal”, or Vitaly Grebennikov, general director of LLC “Avtoservis Hunter”, nominated by the LDPR.
Evidently, to prevent history from repeating itself, there were no candidates from United Russia in the elections held on Sunday. In total, 13 candidates were registered to fill three mandates in the said districts: three from the New People party, two from A Just Russia, one from the CPRF, one from the LDPR and six self-nominated candidates.
Following the vote, one deputy mandate went to a candidate from the LDPR and two to self-nominated candidates. Average turnout across the districts was 6.8%.
Kamchatka Krai: elections in new districts
Large-scale elections took place in Kamchatka Krai — the municipal reform launched in 2020 continues here.
To date, eight new municipal okrugs have been formed: Aleutsky, Milkovsky, Bystrinsky, Ust-Kamchatsky, Ust-Bolsheretsky, Tigilsky, Yelizovsky and Sobolevsky. In the latter two okrugs, elections to the local representative bodies of the first convocations were held on Sunday.
Yelizovsky Okrug incorporated both the municipalities of the former district and the city of krai subordination, Yelizovo.
Under the municipality’s charter, the duma of Yelizovsky Okrug consists of 31 deputies.
Ten mandates are distributed through the single electoral district and 21 through seven three-mandate districts.
Lists of five political parties were registered in the single electoral district: United Russia, the LDPR, the CPRF, A Just Russia and New People.
The contest for mandates in the majoritarian districts was waged by 74 registered candidates: 21 from United Russia, 21 from the LDPR, 15 from the CPRF, eight from A Just Russia and nine self-nominated candidates.
Following the vote in the single electoral district, United Russia received 54%, the LDPR — 13.4%, the CPRF — 12.8%, A Just Russia — 9% and New People — 7% of the vote.
In the majoritarian electoral districts, all deputy mandates without exception went to candidates from United Russia.
Sobolevsky Municipal Okrug covers an area of almost 20,000 square kilometres, while its population is only around 2,000 people.
Two five-mandate electoral districts were created here to conduct the elections. The contest was waged by 30 registered candidates: ten from United Russia and 20 self-nominated candidates.
Following the vote, eight deputy mandates went to candidates from United Russia and two to self-nominated candidates.
Zabaykalsky Krai: replacing a deputy caught drunk driving
A by-election of a deputy to the city duma was held in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. The reason for its scheduling was the early resignation of Yevgeny Kalinin, who was elected to the representative body in 2024 as a self-nominated candidate but became a member of United Russia a short time later.
In 2025, a criminal case was opened against the 23-year-old Chita deputy for repeat driving while intoxicated. After the court verdict entered into force, the duma considered the question of terminating his powers.
Four registered candidates contested the elections held on Sunday: from United Russia, the LDPR, the CPRF and A Just Russia.
Following the vote, the deputy mandate went to the candidate from United Russia.
Bashkortostan: elections in two village soviets
By-elections of deputies to the Oktyabrsky and Voskresensky village soviets were held in Bashkortostan.
The representative body of the Oktyabrsky Village Soviet, elected in 2023 and consisting entirely of deputies from United Russia, was left without a quorum after four of them resigned their powers early on personal applications.
Ten registered candidates contended for the four mandates: four each from United Russia and the LDPR and two self-nominated candidates.
Following the vote, two mandates went to candidates from United Russia and two to self-nominated candidates.
Elections were scheduled in the Voskresensky Village Soviet for the same reason. Four deputy mandates also turned out to be vacant.
Eight registered candidates contested them: four each from United Russia and the LDPR.
Following the vote, all four mandates went to candidates from United Russia.
Novosibirsk Oblast: elections after resignations
By-elections of deputies to the Berkutovsky Village Soviet took place in Novosibirsk Oblast.
The reason was also the early resignation of powers on personal applications — four deputies left the representative body.
Seven registered candidates contested the mandates: four from United Russia and three self-nominated candidates.
Following the vote, all four mandates went to candidates from United Russia.
5 April in Russia
Candidate lists of five political parties were registered for elections to the representative body of one municipality through the single electoral district: United Russia, the LDPR, the CPRF, A Just Russia; the New People party.
146 candidates contested 47 deputy mandates in the representative bodies of four municipalities in majoritarian electoral districts.
Total since the start of the new electoral cycle
Since the single voting day of 14 September 2025, 27 electoral campaigns for the election of heads of municipalities have taken place. 76 candidates took part in them.
An election of a deputy to the representative body of one subject of the Russian Federation took place. Five candidates took part in it, a candidate from United Russia was elected deputy.
Elections of deputies to 84 local representative bodies took place; 450 deputy mandates were filled through majoritarian districts. 1,046 candidates were registered in majoritarian districts.
