Deputies of the Yekaterinburg City Duma elected a woman speaker for the first time

On Friday, the Yekaterinburg City Duma elected its chairman after two meetings. The speaker’s chair was occupied for the first time by a woman, 33-year-old director of the department of political science and sociology of the Humanitarian Institute of the Ural Federal University (Ural Federal University), wife of the presidential envoy for the Ural Federal District Anna Gurariy. Immediately after the vote, she announced her intention to work closely with the administration of Yekaterinburg and the government of the Sverdlovsk region. Both city and regional authorities just needed a person focused primarily on them, and not on some elite groups in the city parliament, the expert explains.

The third extraordinary meeting of the Yekaterinburg City Duma on October 13 was opened by the acting chairman, first vice speaker of the Duma, Mikhail Matveev. He invited the convocation to make proposals on candidates and gave the floor to the leader of the United Russia (UR) faction, Alexei Vikharev.

“I am sure that the deputies of the United Russia faction done the right choice, and Anna Gurariy, together with the deputies, the head of the city, the governor and the townspeople, will make our beloved city even better and more comfortable,” the United Russia member introduced his colleague. The choice of Anna Gurariy was due to the candidate’s qualified teaching experience and “the most important plus is that she is a woman,” he later explained to reporters. “In any situation, she knows how to stay above the fray, and her feminine intuition, insight and education are enough to overcome all difficult moments in the Duma with ease,” he showered compliments on the new speaker.

Since 2020, Anna Gurariy has served as director of the department of political science and sociology at the Ural Humanitarian Institute of UrFU. After her appointment, she became the youngest director in the history of the university (29 years old).

We also note that Anna Gurariy is married to the assistant to the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District, Evgeniy Gurariy.

Mikhail Matveev thanked the head of the faction and asked the deputies whether there would be any more proposals. “What’s wrong if we have a beautiful girl as speaker of the Duma? As far as I remember, we have had men all the time since 1992, so nothing bad. In my opinion, it will work out well,” Alexander Kolesnikov (United Russia) supported the candidacy of Mrs. Gurary. Other deputies also did not nominate alternative candidates.

Mr. Matveev invited Anna Gurariy to give a campaign speech, but she refused and the City Duma moved on to questions for the candidate. Alexander Alshevskikh (United Russia) complained that the City Duma annually spends money on purchasing “calendar cards and postcards” when “it makes sense to save money and do without it, to spend this money on solving the problems of citizens.” Ms. Gurariy replied that such issues are resolved on a routine basis, but assured that she had heard about this particular one and would discuss it later.

The uncontested candidacy for the post of speaker was unanimously supported by all 30 deputies present (there are 35 in total).

After this, Anna Gurariy was invited to go to the presidium, where Mikhail Matveev presented her with a magnificent bouquet and invited her to take her rightful place.

To resolve key issues of the city, the deputy corps will work with the administration of Yekaterinburg and the regional government in a “single team,” Anna Gurariy immediately warned her colleagues. “For my part, I am open to interaction with every deputy and am ready to make every effort to effectively and efficiently ensure our parliamentary powers,” she reported. Later, she also explained to reporters that she would leave the post of director of the department of political science and sociology at the Ural Humanitarian Institute of UrFU, but wanted to continue teaching as an external part-time teacher. She noted that working as a speaker is “a task with an asterisk” for her, but she promised to “use her wealth of knowledge and competencies to successfully cope with this task.”

“It seems to me that being a woman is always responsible, not only when we are talking about the position of the chairman of the city duma. I think all women will agree with me that this is by nature responsible,” the politician said.

Let us recall that the first two meetings of the City Duma, deputies of the eighth convocation postponed the question of electing a speaker. One of the deputies absent from the meeting on Friday, Konstantin Kiselev (Yabloko), explained that he did not come precisely because of indignation at the pause in the election of the speaker. “In our country, local self-government is separated from state power. And imperative mandates are prohibited. But everyone obediently awaits instructions from their superiors. It’s humiliating. This turns the thought itself into something miserable. To nothing,” he wrote on his VK page.

Alexey Vikharev explained the delay by “some consultations” and “political procedures” that the candidate needs to go through. Anna Gurariy refused to explain to reporters exactly what procedures her colleague was talking about.

“Apparently, Moscow did not agree for a long time: yes, there was a version of internal intrigue, but for a month no alternative candidates appeared,” political scientist Alexei Shaburov explains the delay in the election of the speaker of the City Duma.

In his opinion, the main challenge for the new speaker is the lack of parliamentary experience: “You will have to delve into the intricacies from scratch, this will require a lot of effort and time; plus, people will be needed who will involve her in the process.” A number of Yekaterinburg deputies, the political scientist also recalled, come from “masculine environments” where “it is not very customary to obey a woman”: “But the administration is on her side, and they themselves voted: they will have to (they.— “Kommersant”) break yourself and step over some attitudes.”

The political scientist explains the choice of Anna Gurariy by the leadership of the city and region by the fact that “both the governor and the mayor wanted to see (the speaker.— “Kommersant”) a person who is not associated with influence groups in the City Duma.” “That is, a person who will focus primarily on the administration will turn to them for advice, and not to any other structures,” the expert continued. “There are not many such figures in the City Duma.”

Vasily Alekseev, Ekaterinburg, Grigory Leiba