INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The legislature in the Siberian region of Novosibirsk has voted to end the practice of holding direct mayoral elections in the regional
major cities in Russia from having a directly elected head was adopted after two readings in one session on Monday, with 49 of 65 regional
legislators approving the measure.While deputies representing the ruling United Russia party and the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of
In the future, their replacements will be chosen by members of the regional legislature from a pool of candidates submitted by the
Kremlin has long wanted to end as it has tightened its political control over Russia's restive regions.Moscow and St
Petersburg are now the only two cities in Russia with a population of over 1 million people where the mayor is chosen directly by the
