Penza, 29 August 2014. PenzaNews. The vast majority of Penza residents find it necessary to return to the direct election of the mayor and the governor, states the report on the results of a survey conducted by research company “RAGMIR” based on representative sample by telephone interview in August 2014.

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At first, the respondents were asked: “Do you believe that Penza needs the direct election of the mayor, so that the mayor is elected by the entire population of the city, as before, and not the deputies as now?”

As a result, 67% answered “yes.” Only 10% were against the return to the direct election of the mayor in Penza.

17% of the interviewees said that the question of how the head of Penza administration is elected does not bother them. Another 6% could not answer.

The second question was similar in structure, but concerned the governor and read as follows: “Do you believe that the Penza region should return to the direct election of the governor, so that he is elected by all the residents of the region, as before?”

The answer “Yes, I believe that it is necessary to return to the direct election of the governor” was chosen by more than two thirds of survey participants — 73% of Penza residents.

8% of respondents opposed to the regional governor to be elected by all residents of the area.

12% of the interviewed people said that it does not bother them, and another 7% could not answer.

Currently, the head of administration of Penza is Yuri Krivov who, on July 15, 2014 participated in the competition for the job, which was closed to the media. On July 18, his candidacy, which was submitted by governor Vasily Bochkarev during the 64th Extraordinary Session of the City Duma, 26 out of 27 present deputies gave their votes for him. After that, Yuri Krivov signed a two-year contract, which came into effect on July 22.

Governor Vasily Bochkarev has headed the region for 16 years in a row. He became the head of the region in the elections of 1998, and in April 2002, he was re-elected for the second term. In May 2005, the candidacy of Vasily Bochkarev was submitted by President Vladimir Putin for consideration to the Legislative Assembly of the Penza Region, and was approved by the deputies. Five years later — in April 2010 — the regional parliament supported Vasily Bochkarev again, whose candidacy was submitted by the third president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. The period 2010-2015 is the fourth term of Bochkarev’s office. However, as Vasily Bochkarev stated himself previously, he does not exclude the possibility of participation in the next elections.

The opinion poll was conducted by “RAGMIR” research company in August 2014 using CATI technique.

The respondents were permanent Penza residents and citizens over the age of 18. A total of 400 surveys were collected, with statistical uncertainty no more than 4.9%.

The statistical data on the respondents:

- gender: male – 42%, female – 58%;

- age: 18-24 – 15%, 25-34 – 18%, 35-44 – 18%, 45-54 – 17%, 55-65 – 17%, above 65 – 15%;

- employment: working for hire – 42%, pensioners – 32%, housewives or on parental leave – 7%, students – 6%, government workers – 4.5%, self-employed – 4.5%, military service – 1.5%, unemployed – 1.5%, no answer – 1%;

- income level: below 1500 rubles – 4.5%, 1501-4500 rubles – 2.8%, 4501-10000 rubles – 24.5%, 10001-20000 rubles – 33%, 20001-40000 rubles – 18%, above 40000 rubles – 4%, no answer – 13.2%.