No Winner: The Mayoral Election in Nizhnii Novgorod

Abstract

The present article attempts to provide an expert, scientific, and politically neutral analysis of the process and the results of the most recent local election in Nizhnii Novgorod, the capital of the Volga Federal Circuit (PFO) and the third most important city in Russia. The authors of the article do not try to avoid concrete descriptions of personalities and the vicissitudes of events characterizing the recent electoral campaign, but they focus their analysis on the structural problems revealed by this campaign, which are becoming increasingly relevant in light of the upcoming municipal reform in Russia.