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gazeta.ru, June 25, 2003

Valentina Matviyenko Set to Take St Petersburg by Storm

By Ilya Zhegulev

Valentina Matviyenko has officially announced her candidacy for governor of St Petersburg. Everything is ready for her to assume power in the city: the seat of the former governor Vladimir Yakovlev has been temporarily assigned to a loyal person, and yesterday the office of the presidential envoy snatched control of the city's leading television network, the Petersburg Channel - a key resource in the forthcoming election campaign. Vladimir Putin's plenipotentiary representative to north-west RussiaValentina Matviyenko chose a very appropriate venue for announcing herintent to run for governor - the Oktyabrsky Big Concert Hall, where an award ceremony for St Petersburg school-leavers was being held on Tuesday. In all 30 of the city's top pupils were invited to a meeting with the presidential envoy, who awarded them medals in commemoration of their home town's 300th anniversary. As she addressed the school-leavers, the symbolic newgeneration, Matviyenko said what many had been anticipating: ''My decision to run is firm and final.'' It has to be admitted that Valentina Matviyenko, even though she had never voiced her gubernatorial ambitions, had been considered one of the strongest candidates for the post. On Tuesday it became clear that her appointment as presidential envoy to the North-West Federal District was only temporary: Valentina Ivanovna [Matviyenko] needed that post as a foothold for her campaign if Vladimir Yakovlev had refusal to abandon the seat voluntarily. ''Valentina Ivanovna's decision was not a surprise for us,'' said the deputy chairman of the Yabloko party Igor Artemiev. ''Yabloko understood that Valentina Matviyenko would run. We are ready to meet and discuss the future campaign with her,'' Artemiev said. Many others also perceived her intentions. Earlier this month the governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev, after holding the post for seven years, was appointed deputy prime minister responsible for the housing sector, construction and transportation by President Putin. Subsequently, Yakovlev vacated the governor's post in the northern capital. Former deputy governor and the head of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party's St Petersburg branch Alexander Beglov was appointed acting governor pending new elections. Despite the endless speculation in the media and among political observerswho viewed Matviyenko as the likeliest candidate for the vacated post, thepresidential envoy had until recently acted cautiously. She admitted that she had received numerous proposals from St. Petersburg public figures and politicians to run for governor, before adding that she would have to thoroughly consider those offers. Matviyenko took as much time for reflection as was needed for the federal centre to take full control of the city's leading media outlet, the Petersburg television network. As Gazeta.Ru wrote earlier, the editorial policy of the city's channel was geared towards the interests of the Yakovlev team, and has been subject to unprecedented pressure of late. The director general of the company Irina Terkina has been forced to leave after working in this post for over10 years. On Saturday the channel's board appointed Igor Igrnatiev acting director general of the company. Previously Ignatiev had worked at the St. Petersburg branch of the state-owned All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation [the owner of the nationwide Rossia Channel and Radio of Russia], the main mouthpiece of the office of the presidential envoy in northwestern Russia. Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg Vadim Tyulpanov does not rule out that the elections for governor and those for Leningrad Region may be combined to attract as many voters as possible to the polling stations and are likely to be held on September 21. The speaker said he considered Matviyenko's candidature ''most attractive''. On Tuesday he cited the latest results of a public opinion poll, which stated that the envoy's rating exceeded 30 per cent. Among other likely contenders to the governor's post Tyulpanov named StateDuma deputy Oksana Dmitriyeva and the deputy governor Anna Markova, whose ratings are 10 and 5 per cent respectively. Anna Markova has already officially announced her intention to run. However, observers agree that Vladimir Yakovlev's successor, whetherardent supporters (Yuri Rydnik or Anna Markova), or Oksana Dmitriyeva, however different their popularity ratings, no longer have there sources to win over Yakovlev's former supporters. Valentina Matviyenko first ran for the St. Petersburg governorship in 2000. However, then she joined the race too late to win. Besides, the administrative resources in the city were in the hands of the incumbentYakovlev. Her chances of winning were regarded as extremely low, despite the Kremlin's full support, and Matviyenko withdrew her candidacy to avoid an ignominious defeat. This time, her victory is deemed inevitable, with her chances of losing believed to be as low as her chances of winning backin 2000.

 

See also:

Gubernatorial Elections in St Petersburg 2003

gazeta.ru, June 25, 2003

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