Yekaterinburg deputies retained a mixed system of city duma elections

Deputies of the Yekaterinburg City Duma at a meeting today, October 18, approved the scheme of single-member constituencies, from which it follows that the Duma will continue to be elected according to a mixed system. The division of districts is approved every ten years, and the current scheme was adopted in November 2012. Elections are scheduled for September 2023.

According to Irina Pyatkova, chairman of the Leninsky regional territorial election commission (after the liquidation of the electoral committee of Yekaterinburg, she is the administrator of municipal elections in the regional center), the number of constituencies in the city does not change. The regional law and the charter of Yekaterinburg established that the elections of a representative body of local self-government are held according to a mixed system: 18 deputies are elected in a single electoral district (that is, according to party lists) and 18 in single-mandate districts.

“The key change in the scheme was the change in the boundaries of some districts due to the growth in the population of Yekaterinburg and the clarification of the boundaries of the regions of the Ural capital. Over the past ten years, the number of voters in Yekaterinburg has increased by 45 thousand, in addition, a new administrative district has appeared in the city, so the cut needs to be updated,” Ms. Pyatkova said.

The updated scheme was supported by all municipal deputies present at the meeting. The participants of the meeting also recalled that a change in the proportions in the mixed electoral system or a transition to electing the City Duma only in single-seat constituencies would require changes to the Electoral Code of the Sverdlovsk Region. “To do this, it is necessary to change a number of articles of the regional law, the charter of Yekaterinburg, and only after that the boundaries of the electoral districts should be re-designated, since their number will need to be increased. According to my estimates, it will take about six months,” said Vadim Antoshin, chairman of the liquidated city election committee of Yekaterinburg.

In the legislative assembly of the Sverdlovsk region, Kommersant was informed that at the moment no draft amendments to the electoral code are being discussed in the regional parliament. However, under federal law, it will be possible to make such changes until the beginning of June 2023, when the official start of the election campaign will be given.

Artem Ryabov, Yekaterinburg