The first ever mayor's race in Russia's Star City -- the cosmonaut training town which until recently was a military facility until recently but is still largely closed to outsiders -- did not go so well. For one thing, the winner is already under arrest:
The winning candidate, Nikolai Rybkin, a former deputy director of
the cosmonaut training center, was arrested four days before the June
28 elections. Nevertheless, he won 82.6 percent of the vote, according
to a tally on the Central Elections Commission’s web site.
Rybkin, a retired FSB colonel, ran as an independent candidate.
Runner-up Nikolai Yumanov, an adviser to the United Russia mayor of
Shchyolkovo, gained 11.4 percent of the votes. Oleg Sokovikov, who
finished third with 2.6 percent, is an assistant of United Russia State
Duma Deputy Vladimir Pekarev.
The arrest even boosted Rybkin’s voting tally, Vladimir Reznikov, a
member of his campaign team, said by telephone from Star City. “The
preliminary rating was a little bit lower,” he said.
Rybkin’s lawyer, Roman Smadich, said Monday that the elections were legal.[...]
Rybkin is being investigated on smuggling charges involving a
company called Rosmoravia that allegedly smuggled Chinese goods into
Russia via its northwestern borders. Investigators said he was among
Rosmoravia’s founders.
Rybkin's legal difficulties notwithstanding, the dismal showing by Yumoanov and Sokovikov are also an embarassment for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. If Rybkin is still unable to perform his duties after three months -- hard to do when you're in jail -- President Dmitry Medvedev can dismiss him.
Star City was founded in 1960 as a training center for cosmonauts. Though it's just 30 kilometers from Moscow, for years during the Soviet era, it didn't appear on any official maps.
Now it may be giving Olympic city Shochi a run for it's money as the world's strangest mayor's race.
Photo: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.
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