United Russia to offer 3 candidates for St Petersburg governor

SOCHI, August 29 (Itar-Tass) —— The United Russia Party will offer to President Dmitry Medvedev three candidates for St. Petersburg governor. A meeting will be devoted to this issue at the Bocharov Ruchey summer presidential residence in Sochi on Monday afternoon.

The president will choose one of three candidates, which Chairman of the United Russia Supreme Council Boris Gryzlov named on Saturday. The candidates are Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Central Federal District Georgy Poltavchenko, who is acting St. Petersburg Governor, Vice-Governor Mikhail Oseyevsky, who is the chief of the gubernatorial office, and Chairman of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Vadim Tyulpanov.

Valentina Matviyenko, who had been the St. Petersburg governor for eight years, resigned ahead of time after the victory at the elections in a municipal district in St. Petersburg. The municipal mandate allows her to become a member of the Federation Council, where the senators pledged to elect her as speaker.

The consultations over the candidates for St. Petersburg governor lasted for about a week. The president accepted Matviyenko’s resignation on August 22. Georgy Poltavchenko was appointed as acting governor. He retained the post of the presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Central Federal District.

Under the Russian legislation the United Russia Party, which has a majority in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, should present to the president the list of candidates for governor. The president will choose a candidate, who will be put up for voting in the legislature of the Russian northern capital.

Chairman of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Vadim Tyulpanov earlier expressed confidence that a new governor will be appointed within a week after Valentina Matviyenko resigned. “United Russia will offer the candidates to the president. I believe that a legitimate governor can be appointed within a week,” Tyulpanov told reporters.

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