2026 Mordovian head election
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20 September 2026
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The 2026 Republic of Mordovia head election will take place on 20 September 2026, on common election day, to elect the Head of the Republic of Mordovia, coinciding with the 2026 Mordovian legislative election and the 2026 Russian legislative election. Incumbent Head Artyom Zdunov is eligible to run for a second term in office.
In November 2020 Vladimir Volkov, who served as Head of the Republic of Mordovia since 2012, announced resignation in the middle of his second term.[1] Reasons cited for Volkov's early resignations were his apathetic style of governance, rising state debt, health issues and public fatigue as Volkov has been a fixture in regional politics, previously serving as Prime Minister of Mordovia in 1995–2012.[2] President of Russia Vladimir Putin appointed Prime Minister of Dagestan Artyom Zdunov, an ethnic Erzya, acting Head of the Republic of Mordovia following Volkov's resignation.[3] Zdunov faced little opposition in a region long considered an "electoral sultanate" for United Russia and easily won an election for a full term in 2021 with 78.21% of the vote, while the party simultaneously won 42 seats (out of 48) in the State Assembly of the Republic of Mordovia.[4][5]
Zdunov's term in office was rather uneventful if somewhat successful with him being mostly credited for improving the republic's chronically indebted budget, fighting corruption in the regional government and solving demographic problems.[6][7] Major shifts occurred in the regional elite as Zdunov largely replaced associates close to former head Nikolay Merkushkin, who effectively controlled politics and economy of Mordovia since 1995, with officials from Tatarstan and Dagestan, where Zdunov had built his administrative career.[8][9]
