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Vladivostok Duma deputies on Thursday ruled that the city’s residents will elect their new mayor on May 18, more than a year after the former mayor Vladimir Nikolayev was arrested on charges of embezzlement and abuse of power.

The scheduled date was settled on by 32 of 33 deputies present at the session, The Vladivostok reported. Interestingly, arranging an election date was not included in the session agenda, but the initiative group of the deputies raised the issue.

According to the deputies, the appointed date fully meets the requirements of both city and federal legislation. The city regulations allow the special mayoral election to be held no later than six months after the dismissal of the previous mayor but not earlier than 70-80 days. Thus, according to the law, the election is to be held during the period from May 11 to August 21, 2008.

Holding the election will require some 30 million rubles ($1.2 million), the head of Primorye's election commission Sergei Knyazev said on Friday.

The city mayor Vladimir Nikolayev was dismissed from his position on February 28, 2007 and arrested a week later, with a criminal case launched against him. Nikolayev was charged with using funds from the city budget to pay for his and his family’s personal security detail, as well as selling federal land plots to private individuals.

On December 24, 2007, Nikolayev was sentenced by the Leninsky Court of Vladivostok to a suspended four and a half year imprisonment with three years parole.

On February 20, Primorye’s regional court considered the appeal from the Prosecutor’s Office, which deemed the sentence as mild, but the verdict was upheld.