The first contentious race of the 2014 Sochi Olympics has already begun, with multiple false-starts and disqualifications for the Mayoral candidate. At stake is access to the vast state coffers for the Olympic preparations as well as control over a favorite summertime spot for President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin.
In a frenzy for control over this political resource, Sochi has had four mayors in the last year alone and at one time over 25 candidates were registered for the election next week. Of the original 25, only 6 remain. Amongst the throng, famous ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, businessman and British favorite Aleksandr Lebedev, and Just Russia's candidate Viktor Kurpitko have been eliminated for various paperwork issues. Despite the scandal surrounding a large foreign campaign contribution, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov has managed to recover from his early lagging pace and is considered the only viable competition left for United Russia's candidate, acting Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov.
Russian television stations have decided not to cover this election; no doubt the powers that be do not want another Murmansk debacle. Although hopefully Pakhomov has been filled in better on election policies than Anton Chumachenko (for more on this idealistic United Russia see here).
2 comments:
Hey, where is Yelena Berkova, my favourite?
NYTimes.
It can't really have success, I suppose like this.
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