2024 Saint Petersburg gubernatorial election

Then-Presidential Plenipotentiary to the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Beglov was appointed acting Governor of Saint Petersburg in October 2018, replacing two-term incumbent Georgy Poltavchenko, who resigned at his own request.^[1] Beglov previously served as acting Governor of Saint Petersburg between June and October 2003 after Vladimir Yakovlev's resignation and prior to the election of Valentina Matviyenko in the second round of 2003 gubernatorial election. Poltavchenko meanwhile was appointed as chairman of the board of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, where he served until August 2023.^[2]

Beglov ran for a full term as an Independent, despite prior affiliations to the United Russia party, and faced a potential highly competitive election due to his soaring unpopularity and the city's overall heightened oppositional sentiments.^[3] Several notable candidates were absent from the ballot as Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg members Oleg Kapitonov (LDPR) and Boris Vishnevskiy (Yabloko) failed to qualify, while State Duma member Vladimir Bortko (CPRF) unexpectedly withdrew on August 31. Beglov won the September 2019 election with 64.43% against two opponents, Legislative Assembly members Nadezhda Tikhonova of A Just Russia and Mikhail Amosov of Civic Platform, both of whom received around 16%.^[4]

Among the most notable events during Beglov's first term was his conflict with businessman and Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. In autumn 2022 Prigozhin claimed that he invested 2 billion rubles into Beglov's 2019 campaign, while the governor sabotaged Wagner's headquarters opening and awarded city contracts to his friends and cronies.^[5] Governor Beglov in return replied that the conflict with Prigozhin had been caused by the businessman's desire to control food catering, garbage disposal and subway construction in the city.^[6] The conflict wound down with Prigozhin's and his closest allies' demise in a plane crash in August 2023. Political experts claimed that Prigozhin's death virtually eliminated major opposition to Beglov and cleared his way to a second term in office.^[7]

In April 2024 during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin Governor Beglov announced his intention to run for a second term and received Putin's endorsement.^[8]

In Saint Petersburg candidates for Governor can be nominated by registered political parties or by self-nomination. Candidate for Governor of Saint Petersburg 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 10% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities.^[9] In addition, self-nominated candidates should collect 2% of signatures of Saint Petersburg 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.
Alexander Beglov United Russia			incumbent Governor of Saint Petersburg (2003, 2018–present)	Registered	[8][10]
Pavel Bragin The Greens			Member of Ulyanka Municipal Okrug Council (2019–present) Waste management executive	Registered	[11][12]
Sergey Malinkovich Communists of Russia			Member of Altai Krai Legislative Assembly (2021–present) Chairman of Communists of Russia party (2022–present) Perennial candidate 2024 presidential candidate	Registered	[13][14] [15]
Maksim Yakovlev Liberal Democratic Party			Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2011–present)	Registered	[16][17]
Aleksandr Abdin RPSS			Private clinic owner and chief doctor	Failed to qualify	[18]
Aleksey Kovalyov Independent			Humanitarian aid coordinator	Failed to qualify[a]	[19]
Maria Mikhaylova Rodina			Businesswoman	Failed to qualify[b]	[11][20] [21]
Sergey Artemov PPD			Businessman Community activist	Did not file	[22]
Igor Bucherov Independent			Member of Toksovo Council of Deputies (2019–present) Businessman	Did not file	[23]
Iosif Dzhagaev Independent			Businessman 2023 Moscow mayoral candidate	Did not file	[24]
Svetlana Ivanova Party of Progress			Individual entrepreneur	Did not file	[25]
Nikolay Kalinin Independent			Pensioner	Did not file	[26]
Roman Kononenko Communist Party			Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2021–present)	Did not file	[27][28] [29][30]
Maksim Konoplyanikov Independent			Businessman	Did not file	[31]
Sergey Kudryavtsev Independent			Youth center human resources department head	Did not file	[32]
Nikolay Kuznetsov Independent			Businessman	Did not file	[33]
Yury Novotortsev Independent			Driver	Did not file	[34]
Lilia Sudyina Independent			Member of Ivanovsky Municipal Okrug Council (2022–present) Youth social rehabilitation center director	Did not file	[35]
Lyudmila Vasilyeva Independent			Pensioner Anti-war activist	Did not file	[36][37] [38]
Aleksandr Vinogradov Independent			Individual entrepreneur Consumer rights advocate	Did not file	[39]
Vladislav Voronkov Independent			Housing management association director	Did not file	[40]
Boris Zverev Independent			Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2021–present)	Did not file	[41][42]

• Mikhail Amosov, Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (1994–2007, 2016–present), 2003 gubernatorial candidate, 2019 Civic Platform gubernatorial candidate^[43]
• Sardana Avksentyeva (New People), Member of State Duma (2021–present)^[44]
• Vladimir Bortko (CPRF), former Member of State Duma (2011–2021), 2019 gubernatorial candidate^[27]
• Vyacheslav Borodenchik (CPRF), Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2021–present)^[45]
• Vladislav Davankov (New People), Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (2021–present), 2023 Moscow mayoral candidate, 2024 presidential candidate^[44]
• Oksana Dmitriyeva (New People), Member of State Duma (1993–1998, 1999–2016, 2021–present), 2014 A Just Russia gubernatorial candidate^[27][46]
• Vadim Grishkov (CPRF), Member of Legislative Assembly of Leningrad Oblast (2021–present), 2020 Leningrad Oblast gubernatorial candidate^[45]
• Pavel Itkin (LDPR), Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2023–present), Member of the Legislative Assembly (2019–present)^[47]
• Olga Khodunova (CPRF), former Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2016–2021)^[27]
• Sangadzhi Tarbaev (New People), Member of State Duma (2021–present), Chairman of the Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourist Infrastructure (2021–present)^[48]
• Nadezhda Tikhonova (SR–ZP), former Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2016–2021), 2019 gubernatorial candidate^[49][50][51]
• Boris Vishnevskiy (Yabloko), Member of Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (2011–present), 2019 gubernatorial candidate, foreign agent^[27]

Governor Beglov re-appointed incumbent Senator and Chairwoman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko (United Russia) to the Federation Council.^[53]