By Russell Working and Nonna Chernyakova
A court on Sunday canceled the Jan. 17 mayoral election, angering opposition candidates and throwing the city's already roiled political scene into further chaos.
The decision by the Leninsky district court means that a Vladivostok election has been canceled or declared invalid 14 straight times. The poll was to have sorted out the city's latest political wrangle, in which two different officials claimed to be the real mayor.
The cancellation leaves in place acting Mayor Yury Kopylov, whom Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko appointed last month after President Boris Yeltsin removed Mayor Viktor Cherepkov. Unlike Cherepkov, who clashed with the governor, Kopylov is a Nazdratenko ally who consults with the governor on the details of running the city.
The court, acting on a suit brought by an ally of Kopylov, ruled that the mayoral election had been illegally scheduled and that elections to the Vladivostok City Duma must be held first so that a new city charter can be adopted, Itar-Tass reported.
Not surprisingly, Kopylov was delighted with the cancellation, which leaves him in power until a vote can be held. "It's a very good, reasonable decision," Kopylov said. "What if another crazy man is elected? He will say, 'I have four years and can do what I want.'"
Igor Alekseyev, Cherepkov's legal representative, said he was outraged, although not surprised. Alekseyev said that the governor was behind the cancellation. Alekseyev scoffed at a presidential order that Nazdratenko ensure that the mayoral elections occur.
"That's like putting a goat in a vegetable garden to guard the cabbage," Alekseyev said.
Sunday wasn't the first time the Leninsky district court has dropped a bombshell on a city election.
In September, the court and the regional election committee struck Cherepkov from the ballot days before the vote, saying he was campaigning with city money.
But thousands of voters were convinced Nazdratenko was behind the move. More than 50 percent of the electorate obeyed Cherepkov's call to vote against all the candidates, thus voiding the election.
Yeltsin removed Cherepkov in December, saying his term had run out, and let Nazdratenko choose Kopylov. Cherepkov responded by barricading himself in the mayor's office, but later gave up. He then ran for mayor but did so largely from hiding, saying he feared his enemies would kill him.
The city's political feuds have aggravated the region's desperate economic circumstances for the past several years, with parts of the city at times going without electricity, heat or water.
Natalya Menshenina, director of the Far Eastern Institute of Political Science, said the regional Duma should step into the fracas and pass laws to resolve the city's ongoing election problems. "We've already spent 5 million rubles on the election," she said. "That's one month's salary for all of Vladivostok's budget workers."
("Budget workers" are those funded by public money, including hospital workers, street repair crews, household maintenance workers, city administrative staff and many others.)
The court's move left some voters more disgusted than ever. Inna Kruchkova, 59, a Vladivostok pensioner, expressed weariness at what she saw as another attempt to keep Cherepkov out of office.
"They obviously planned everything beforehand, because Kopylov was babbling that Cherepkov would never ever get back in office.
"Everything they did is absolutely illegal, but we are so tired of that that I don't care anymore."
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