2024 Murmansk Oblast gubernatorial election

Second-term Governor of Murmansk Oblast Marina Kovtun announced her resignation in March 2019, citing personal reasons.^[1] Initially Deputy Minister of Energy Aleksey Teksler was expected to be appointed acting Governor of Murmansk Oblast, however, two days prior to Kovtun's resignation Teksler was appointed acting Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast.^[2] Then-Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities and Federal Chief Housing Inspector Andrey Chibis was appointed as Kovtun's replacement.^[3]

Chibis ran for a full term nominated by United Russia and won the September 2019 election with 60.07% of the vote against five opponents, including Murmansk Oblast Duma members Maksim Belov (LDPR, 18.27%) and Mikhail Antropov (CPRF, 11.38%), former Apatity mayor.^[4] Despite the overwhelming margin of victory (nearly 42 points), it was the third closest gubernatorial election that cycle.

On April 4, 2024, Governor Chibis was attacked and stabbed by a lone assailant after a town hall meeting in Apatity. Chibis survived the attack and was rushed to a hospital in Murmansk for treatment of his injuries,^[5] while his deputy Nadezhda Aksenova served as acting Governor of Murmansk Oblast until Chibis's recovery.^[6] Two weeks later, on April 18, 2024, Chibis returned to office and the same day held a call with President Vladimir Putin, where the governor expressed his intention to seek a second term and received Putin's endorsement.^[7]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

In Murmansk Oblast candidates for Governor can be nominated by registered political parties or by self-nomination. Candidate for Governor of Murmansk Oblast should be a Russian citizen and at least 30 years old. Candidates for Governor should not have a foreign citizenship or residence permit. Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 7% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities.^[8] In addition, self-nominated candidates should collect 0.5% of signatures of Murmansk Oblast residents. Also gubernatorial candidates present 3 candidacies to the Federation Council and election winner later appoints one of the presented candidates.

Candidate name, political party			Occupation	Status	Ref.
Andrey Chibis United Russia			Incumbent Governor of Murmansk Oblast (2019–present)	Registered	[9][7] [10]
Stanislav Gontar Liberal Democratic Party			Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2021–present)	Registered	[11][12]
Yury Klimchenko Party of Pensioners			Pensioner	Registered	[13]
Yury Vatalin Communist Party			Former Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2012–2016)	Registered	[14][15]
Karib Gadzhimagomedov Independent			Former construction businessman 2019 gubernatorial candidate	Did not file	[16]

• Vladimir Mishchenko (United Russia), First Deputy Chairman of the Murmansk Oblast Duma (2016–present), Member of the Oblast Duma (2011–present)^[17]
• Svetlana Videneyeva (United Russia), Chief of Staff of the Murmansk Oblast Duma (2022–present)^[17]

• Artur Popov (CPRF), Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2021–present)^[11]

Incumbent Senator Konstantin Dolgov (Independent) was not renominated.

Gubernatorial candidate, political party		Candidates for Federation Council	Status
Andrey Chibis United Russia		* Yelena Dyagileva, Deputy Governor of Murmansk Oblast (2019–present) * Andrey Kulba, Deputy Head of the Control Department of the Presidential Administration of Russia * Olga Kuznetsova, Deputy Governor of Murmansk Oblast (2018–present)	Registered
Stanislav Gontar Liberal Democratic Party		* Nelli Shayduko, aide to Murmansk Oblast Duma member * Irina Sologub, aide to Murmansk Oblast Duma member * Konstantin Zamyatin, IT businessman	Registered
Yury Klimchenko Party of Pensioners		* Igor Naydyonov, former Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2011–2021) * Irina Shevchuk, nonprofit specialist * Anna Volotskova, nonprofit specialist	Registered
Yury Vatalin Communist Party		* Mikhail Antropov, former Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (1997–2004, 2011–2021), 2014 and 2019 gubernatorial candidate * Aleksandr Klementyev, Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2021–present) * Aleksandr Makarevich (SR–ZP), Member of Murmansk Oblast Duma (2007–present), 2014 gubernatorial candidate	Registered

All sums are in rubles.

Financial Report	Source	Chibis	Gontar	Klimchenko	Vatalin
First	[18]	50,000,000	500,000	100,000	45,000
Final		66,000,000	1,000,000	40,100,000	2,270,000