Poltavchenko to run for St. Petersburg governor in September
ST. PETERSBURG. June 5 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported the decision of St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko to resign and take part in the gubernatorial election this September.
Poltavchenko told the president about his decision to participate in the early election at a meeting held in St. Petersburg late on Wednesday night.
The St. Petersburg development strategy for the period until 2030 based on "a rather optimistic scenario" was approved a month ago, Poltavchenko said. "We are confident this strategy can be implemented. So, I wish to make a personal contribution to the implementation of this strategy. I would like to ask you to support my aspiration for running in the early gubernatorial election in St. Petersburg this September so that I could do everything we have planned and what, in my opinion, can be done for the development of this city," Poltavchenko told the chief of state.
The governor reminded the president he headed the St. Petersburg administration in September 2011.
The president granted his request. Poltavchenko promised Putin he would justify his confidence. "It is most important that you justify confidence of St. Petersburg residents," Putin said.
Poltavchenko was appointed as the St. Petersburg governor in August 2011. His term of office expires in 2015.
More than ten governors have stepped down since the beginning of the year in order to run in gubernatorial elections of this September, among them the heads of the Republics of Sakha (Yakutia), Kalmykia and Bashkortostan and the governors of the Samara, Murmansk, Lipetsk, Kursk, Tyumen, Orenburg, Vologda and Nizhny Novgorod regions and the Primorsky territory.
