ST. PETERSBURG, August 22 (Itar-Tass) — St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko has been elected a municipal deputy of the Petrovskiy district. According to preliminary vote count, she has scored 95.61 percent of the votes, Dmitry Krasnyanskiy, the deputy head of the St. Petersburg electoral committee, told Itar-Tass.
He said that the city electoral committee had received no complaints of violations during the vote. The turnout was 36.54 percent, a record figure for St. Petersburg. Krasnyanskiy clarified that ordinary turnout at municipal elections is about 10 percent.
Vote count continues in the Krasnaya Rechka municipal district. The turnout there was about 30%. The final results will become known at night or on Monday morning.
Matviyenko’s election as a municipal deputy will allow her to become a member of the Federation Council. Earlier, the Federation Council members have promised to make Matvyienko the speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian Federal Assembly.
Matviyenko told a briefing held shortly after preliminary vote count that she would decide on Monday the mandate of what municipal district – Petrovskiy or Krasnaya Rechka – she’s going to hold because law forbids her to represent two municipal districts.
Matviyenko said she would step down as the governor of the St. Petersburg as soon as the municipal elections’ official results are announced. She added she would write a letter to the president asking him to relieve her of her duties of governor before her term officially expires.