First deputy speaker of the Tomsk city duma Ilya Leontyev has won the United Russia preliminary vote and is set to become the party’s candidate in the State Duma election in Tomsk single-mandate constituency No. 180. He received 24,600 votes, reports Kommersant.
Second place went to State Duma deputy, deputy chair of the Health Protection Committee and one of the wealthiest women politicians in Russia, Tatyana Solomatina. She received almost half as many — 12,500 votes. We wrote earlier that Solomatina’s daughter Yekaterina Felzinger is under investigation in a fraud case involving the provision of medical care to cancer patients. The proceedings are closed to the public.
United Russia actively backed Ilya Leontyev in the primaries. For instance, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on Property, Land and Property Relations Vladimir Samokish withdrew from the primaries in Leontyev’s favour.
Tatyana Solomatina may now become a candidate for another party, run as an independent — or abandon the race for the deputy’s mandate.