Medvedev turns down idea to elect governors

Both Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev have proposed to return to the system of before 2005 when the governors were elected.

In a statement posted at Kremlin’s webpage, Medvedev says that instead of returning back to direct elections of governors, he support the reform stipulating that the biggest party in each region should recommends at least three gubernatorial candidates.

In practice, that system will not change much, because the majority party is the Kremlin-backed United Russia. Since the reform came into force last year, the party’s proposals have usually included the incumbent leader plus several close allies, writes The Moscow Times.

In the Barents Region, one-by-one of the earlier elected governors have been sacked from office and replaced by governors appointed by the President.

Last week, BarentsObserver reported that Komi governor Vladimir Torlopov will have to abandon his post after President Dmitri Medvedev recommended Vyacheslav Gayzer to take over the post as governor in the Republic.

In March last year, the popular Murmansk governor Yury Yevdokimov, was sacked by the President and replaced with Dmitry Dmitriyenko as reported by BarentsObserver.

Also the elected governors of Arkhangelsk and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug have been replaced by appointed governors since former President Vladimir Putin in 2005 signed the decree that abolish direct elections of Russia’s governors.

The last elected governor in the Russian part of the Barents Region still in office is Sergey Katanandov, head of the Republic of Karelia. In his speech on New Year’s Eve, President Medvedev also said Russia’s governors should not expect to be reappointed more than two times. –..a fourth term is an exception. We will now be working to free vacancies for younger people, Medvedev said according to RIA Novosti.