Elections held in 80 out of 83 Russian regions

On September 8th local elections are being held in 80 out of 83 Russian regions. Heads of regional administration are being elected in 8 regions, regional legislatures are being elected in 16 regions, and 8 regional capital cities are electing their mayors.

Regional elections are also being held in Moscow. The residents of the city are electing a new mayor. For the first time in nine years the head of the city will be held by popular vote.

Six candidates are running for the mayor of Moscow. They are incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin, head of the local office of the ruling United Russia party, major opposition candidate Alexey Navalny, nominated by the liberal People's Freedom Party, Ivan Melnikov from the Communist party, Sergey Mitrokhin from the liberal Yabloko party, Nikolay Levichev from the leftist Just Russia party, and Mikhail Degtyaryov from the populist LDPR party.

The heads of the Dagestani and Ingush republics are also being elected on this day. Incumbent heads of the republics Ramazan Abdulatipov and Yunus-bek Yevkurov are running for reelection.