Russia’s ruling United Russia party’s candidate, Vyacheslav Dvorakovsky, won the election for Mayor of the Siberian city of Omsk on June 17, gaining 49.35 percent of the vote. The Communist Party’s Viktor Zharkov came second with 28.97 percent.
A Just Russia’s Irina Overina came third with 6.4 percent, with the LDPR, Yabloko and two independents gaining less than five percent.
Turnout was very low at just 17 percent of eligible voters. City election commission head Tamara Povelyakina blamed the low turnout on voters relaxing in the sunny weather out of town, or disappointment at Russia was knocked out of the Euro 2012 football competition.
The vote follows another mayor election win last week when United Russia took Krasnoyarsk, also with a low turnout of just 21 percent.