YAROSLAVL, July 24 Deputies of the Smolensk City Council on Monday elected the former first deputy head Alexander Novikov as the head of Smolensk by voting , the press service of the City Council reported.
According to the city council, the mayor of the city was chosen on a competitive basis. Four people applied for the position, on Monday they presented their development programs to Smolensk deputies. Then the deputies voted for the most convincing candidate, in their opinion.
«The session was attended by 27 deputies, 23 deputies voted for the candidacy of Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov,» the city council said, noting that there was only one issue on the agenda — a competition for the post of head of the city. The City Council informs that Alexander Novikov named updating the management system and improving the efficiency of the city administration among the priorities. Also in his speech, he dwelled on the development of the social sphere, emphasizing that special attention should be paid to such areas as culture, sports and youth policy. «At the same time, for the development of Smolensk, it is extremely important to rationally manage municipal finances and increase the revenue side of the city budget, while increasing the efficiency of spending,» the press service of the City Council quotes Novikov. On his page on the VKontakte social network, Borisov called his decision «difficult» but «absolutely correct.» He explained that, in his opinion, Smolensk should be led by a representative of the new team of the governor.
At the end of March, Governor of the Smolensk Region Alexei Ostrovsky resigned of his own free will, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Vasily Anokhin as acting governor. Early elections of the head of the region are scheduled for a single voting day on September 10.