September 14 will be Russia’s single voting day. Voters are to elect 21 governors, 11 regional legislatures, and dozens of city councils. In most regions, the outlet says, voting remains largely a formal procedure, yet several territories still show some intrigue, and campaigns have been accompanied by pressure on candidates. In Krasnodar, city council candidate Vladimir Kozorog was reportedly handed a draft notice despite a legal ban, while in Komi, candidate for the Ukhta city council Konstantin Ushakov was, according to the publication, told by his management to resign.
Of the 21 governors, 20 will be chosen by direct vote, while the head of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug will be selected by the regional legislature. All incumbent governors and acting heads seeking re-election are running from United Russia. Political analyst Alexander Kynev told Vedomosti this reflects the political shift after the start of the war: affiliation with the ruling party is no longer treated as a liability, and the entire administrative machine works in its favor.
Among the most notable races, the article highlights the Irkutsk region, where incumbent Igor Kobzev faces former governor Sergey Levchenko of the Communist Party. In the Arkhangelsk region, Alexander Tsybulsky’s main challenger may be State Duma deputy Roman Lyabikhov. In the Sverdlovsk region, the LDPR initially nominated Stanislav Naumov, but he withdrew, citing problems with the municipal filter, and the party replaced him with Alexander Kaptyug. In the Tambov region, acting governor Yevgeny Pervyshov is running; he is described as the first regional head drawn from among veterans of the war.
Komi has drawn separate attention after the Central Election Commission refused to register Communist State Duma deputy Oleg Mikhailov, citing problems with signatures required for the municipal filter. At the same time, searches were carried out in Syktyvkar at the independent cultural space Revolt Center in a treason case against one of its founders and 7x7 founder Pavel Andreyev. According to a source interviewed by Novaya-Europe, municipal elections remain the most competitive in today’s Russia because local elites, business figures, and politicians compete there not only for mandates, but also for influence over land, advertising, and state contracts.
Long-used electoral tactics are still in play at this level. In Novosibirsk, after Communist candidate Anton Pashchenko was nominated, self-nominated candidates with similar names appeared on the ballot. Copyright lawsuits are also used against rivals: incumbent council member Mikhail Bolshov tried to have his opponent Erlan Baizhanov removed from the race through court action, but the court rejected the claim.
Another feature of the 2025 campaign concerns remote electronic voting. It is set to be used in pretrial detention centers for the first time, even though detainees effectively receive no full campaigning and cannot make an informed choice. At the same time, the Novosibirsk region and Tatarstan have decided against using the system. In Tatarstan, officials explained the move by the risk of communication outages. Still, remote electronic voting will be used in more than 20 regions, despite continuing internet disruptions across the country.