The Novosibirsk City Council conducted a survey about the “ideal mayor”

On Wednesday, the mayor of Novosibirsk, Anatoly Lokot (KPRF), served his last day as head of the city and officially resigned. The next mayor will be elected for the first time by deputies of the City Council based on the results of a competitive selection, and not in direct elections. On the eve of the “casting” of candidates, the city parliament conducted a survey of residents about the qualities of the “ideal mayor.” Its results showed that Novosibirsk residents would not like to see a “Varangian” at the head of the mayor’s office: according to two-thirds of respondents, the future leader should be a native Novosibirsk resident or at least live in the city for three to ten years.

On January 24, Anatoly Lokot’s vacation ended, after which the head of Novosibirsk, elected through direct elections, resigned. The communist announced his intention to leave his post at the end of December, explaining that he was moving to another job. United Russia Governor Andrei Travnikov then added that this work “involves the implementation of national tasks.” However, it is still not clear what position Mr. Lokot will ultimately occupy. Both previous heads of the city – Viktor Tolokonsky and Vladimir Gorodetsky – went “up” and headed the region.

The next mayor of Novosibirsk will be elected through a competition. Let us recall that in February 2023, the Legislative Assembly amended the regional law, abolishing direct elections and delegating these powers to the City Council. The commission for selecting candidates who will be presented to the deputies for consideration is formed in half from representatives of the governor and the city council itself. To get to the finals, applicants for the post will have to undergo testing and an interview, and to win, they will have to receive a majority of votes from the total number of deputies (26 out of 50). The competition is planned to be announced at the session on February 14.

On the eve of the start of the procedure, the city council conducted a survey of citizens on the topic “The ideal mayor of Novosibirsk. What is he like? Its participants were asked to answer nine questions prepared by the control commission with the participation of the press service of the City Council. A total of 7.6 thousand people took part in the survey. 89% of respondents noted that the city lacks, first of all, cleanliness, 57% called the construction of transport interchanges a priority task for the mayor, more than 79% would like to see the head of the city honest and responsible, and citizens tend to consider economic growth as a criterion for his success (71%).

When asked whether the mayor should be a native Novosibirsk resident, 29% of respondents answered unequivocally “yes.” Some townspeople are confident that before being elected to office, a candidate must live in the city for a long time: at least three years (14%) or even ten (24%). Another 30% believe that the mayor does not have to be a native of Novosibirsk or a resident of the city.

Please note that the procedure for holding the competition does not contain geographical restrictions for candidates. For example, in Tomsk, where direct elections had also previously been abolished, in September 2023 Dmitry Makhinya, deputy head of the neighboring regional center of Omsk, was elected mayor. Before the competition, Governor Vladimir Mazur publicly supported him, declaring that he had found a person capable of leading the city. In December 2023, Novosibirsk Governor Andrei Travnikov, answering a question from Kommersant about the possibility of repeating the Tomsk scenario in Novosibirsk, said that no option was excluded.

According to deputy Andrei Gudovsky (United Russia), the survey results indicate that Novosibirsk residents want the mayor to be a person “who would understand our city, understand the people who live here.” Independent deputy Anton Kartavin believes that the mayor should be a native Novosibirsk resident or at least “imbued with the Novosibirsk spirit.” “By all standards, ten years of residency is enough. I couldn’t trust a mayor who has never lived in the city,” said the parliamentarian. His colleague from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction, Alexander Burmistrov, believes that the possible appearance of a “Varangian” at the head of the city “will raise the question of the viability of Novosibirsk residents.” “Novosibirsk residents simply have a head start in time, they will quickly delve into all issues,” explained Anton Tyrtyshny, vice-speaker of the city council from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, adding, however, that the main criterion when choosing a mayor should be his professional qualities.

Independent deputy and political scientist Igor Ukraintsev agrees with the last reservation, who believes that if you remove the “emotional component,” then a good-level manager “can and should find employment anywhere in the country.”

Valery Lavsky, Novosibirsk