Shirshina goes for State Duma

«I can confirm that I will support the Yabloko Party in the elections», Galina Shirshina says to newspaper Gazeta.ru. «If the party considers my candidacy accurate, then I will be on the list of candidates», she adds.

It is not clear whether she will run on a federal or regional party list. The 450 seat State Duma is elected both on party lists and single-mandate lists.

Shirshina was booted from her Petrozavodsk office in late December 2015. After two years in charge of the northwest Russian city, the liberal city mayor had made herself highly unpopular among the members of the local city council, most of them from the United Russia party. In a vote of confidence, the council ejected the mayor from office.

Shirshina herself said the case against her was orchestrated by regional Governor Aleksandr Khudilainen. She appealed to court, but there lost her case. 

The people of Petrozavodsk, regional capital of Karelia, voted for change when they in early fall 2013 catapulted Galina Shirshina into the city mayor’s office.

Amid overwhelming pressure from the political establishment, the 32-year old psyciatrist and representative of the Yabloko Party won a convincing 42 percent of the votes.

Shirshina became one of few city mayors in Russia with a political stance in clear contrast with the line of the Kremlin.

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The young mayor soon started an overhaul in local city management, which made her highly unpopular among political opponents, among them the United Russia Party and regional Governor.