NOVOSIBIRSK, December 28 Mayor of Novosibirsk Anatoly Lokot will resign, Governor Andrei Travnikov said in an interview with the regional TV channel OTS.
“»Anatoly Evgenievich received an offer to move to a job that involved performing national tasks. He decided to use his political and life experience in order to continue to be useful already in the whole country,” said the head of the Novosibirsk region.
Elbow will go on vacation followed by dismissal. The governor supported his colleague’s decision and expressed hope that the city’s economy will operate steadily during the holidays and subsequent days. One of his deputies, Oleg Klemeshov, will act as mayor.
“I supported this decision, and we will provide assistance to Klemeshov and the entire management team of the Novosibirsk City Hall,” Travnikov emphasized.
The head of the region noted that after the dismissal of Lokt, a competition for the election of the mayor will be appointed.
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“There is at least a two-stage procedure. Any candidates who meet the specified criteria can apply for it (competition — editor's note). I am sure that there will be such candidates. I am confident that the commission and deputies will choose the best candidate that will be proposed. We need to wait until all these mandatory procedures are completed,” the governor said.
Speaking about the timing, he noted that everything will depend on the decision of the City Council when they announce this procedure. Travnikov added that Novosibirsk will have a new mayor next year.
Information about the resignation of the mayor of Novosibirsk appeared the day before in several Telegram channels and the media, then the city administration denied it.
Direct elections of the mayor Novosibirsk was canceled in April of this year. According to the new rules, the mayor will now be elected by deputies from among the candidates who made it to the finals of a special competition. Anatoly Lokot (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) held the post of mayor of the city for the second term, his powers expired in September 2024.
He was elected mayor of Novosibirsk for the first time in early elections in April 2014. Then he received 43.75 percent of the vote with a turnout of 32.59 percent. In the elections in September 2019, Lokot won for the second time with a result of 50.25 percent of the votes with a turnout of 20.67 percent.