Murmansk Mayor won regional primaries for State Duma

This is the first time a political party in Russia has held nationwide primaries ahead of parliamentary elections. About 10 million people voted, party officials say.

Aleksey Veller, who has served as Murmansk city mayor for the last six years, in March informed about his candidacy for the September 18 State Duma elections. In Sunday’s primaries he received 59.2 percent of the votes in the Murmansk region, Murmansk Vestnik reports.

Some 66,000 people voted in the regional primaries, according to SeverPost. 

Aleksey Veller is a veteran in Murmansk politics. He has been member of the local city council since 2004. In 2010 he was elected city mayor and re-elected in 2014.

The Russian State Duma vote will take place on September 18th. The Duma consists of 450 members, of which half are elected from party lists and half from single-mandate districts.