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Presidential envoy to the Russian Far Eastern region Kamil Iskhakov on Thursday held a regular meeting of the region’s officials. According to Iskhakov, Primorye’s turn to host the meeting came after Chukotka, Yakutia and Kamchatka. Not long into the meeting, confusions and upsets crept into the program.

Two issues topped the agenda of the current meeting in Primorye – the upcoming elections to the State Duma this December and the program of the Far East region’s development from 2008 to 2013.

While discussing the first issue, State Duma elections, Iskhakov stressed the necessity to accomplish a 50-percent turnout of voters at the elections. He mentioned Primorye as a region with a typically low voter turnout.

Khabarovsk Mayor Alexander Sokolov, while presenting his report, revealed that, “Realizing the importance of the December elections for United Russia, we [Khabarovsk officials] recommended to the chairmen of all district electoral commissions to enter the United Russia party.” The statement stirred immediate confusion.

“You probably have misspoken, or have jumped to another line of your text,” Iskhakov interrupted. “For us all parties have equal status for participation in elections, and we do not have the right to give preference to any of them,” Iskhakov stressed. He added, though, that the prosecutor’s investigation should clear up the situation.

The second part of the meeting was devoted to the program of development of the Far eastern region from 2008-2013. According to Iskhakov, $22 billion will be allotted by the government for the fruition of the program, most of which will be spent on transportation and energy issues.

High-priced airline tickets to the western regions of Russia make it impossible for ordinary residents of the Far Eastern territories to travel to Moscow or Saint Petersburg. “The government needs to develop a system of subsidies for the residents so they and their children can have a chance to fly and see these beautiful cities,” Iskhakov commented at a press conference following the meeting.

He also revealed that in the regions officials have one picture of the quality of life while in the upper levels of power the ministry officials have a different picture.

Iskhakov, who on Wednesday answered telephone calls from ordinary people, said that things in Primorye were worse than they were reported to him.

“It turns out that life here was reported to me in a rose-colored light, but I get the impression that it is worse in reality,” Iskhakov indicated. He promised to give instructions to investigate 10 cases of problems reported to him. The population of Primorye is 2 million people.