Penza, 12 March 2015. PenzaNews. Preparation for the Penza region gubernatorial campaign was the main topic at the session of the regional United Russia party policy board held on Thursday, March 12.

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According to information mentioned during the event, the election committee of the Penza region already began forming the voter lists, while members of political parties took part in seminar meetings, and officials introduced required amendments to the regional laws.

“The election campaign will have its particular quirks. First of all, no independent candidates will be allowed. Second, the candidates will go through so-called ‘municipal filtering’ apart from the normal promotion procedure. The candidate’s promotion must be supported by 8% of representative bodies at municipalities, including 8% of deputies from representative bodies of municipal areas and city regions. At the same time, the candidate must have support of deputies from no less than 3/4 of municipal areas and city regions of the Penza region. Each deputy may support only a single candidate, and the support signatures will undergo notary check,” said Ivan Belozertsev, secretary of the regional United Russia party branch, chairman of the Penza region Legislative Assembly.

He also added that United Russia members in the city will hold primaries in June, followed by a promotion conference.

Ivan Belozertsev suggested to appoint Victor Rubtsov, vice-governor of the Penza region and United Russia party member, as the head of the regional party election board, commending his election experience.

His candidacy received unanimous support of the party board members.

“Thank you for your trust and support. I believe victory will be ours. I stand for innovations, including those in election campaigns. Several parties already livened up, and the campaign will be highly competitive, so our election board must work like a unified and solid mechanism. This day can be considered the start of our election campaign,” said Victor Rubtsov.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the election of the Penza region governor together with additional election of deputies to the representative self-government bodies in certain areas is set on September 13, 2015.