Dmitry Kuzmin (Stavropol Mayor)

Dmitry Kuzmin (Russian: Дмитрий Кузьмин) is the incumbent mayor of the Southern Russian city of Stavropol. A candidate in the 2007 legislative elections representing the " [A] Just Russia" party, he was barred from taking part in the contest by a court decision in November.(Russian) Aleksey Levchenko. [http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/elections2007/info/s2366166.shtml Выборы против всех] Retrieved on 2007-12-01.] Kuzmin won the last mayoral election after defeating the candidate representing the national establishment party, United Russia, by a significant margin.

Born in 1966, Kuzmin took advantage of opportunities that emerged during the last years of the Soviet Union to become one of the youngest industrial directors of the time in the country.(Russian) Official Stavropol. [http://www.stavropol.stavkray.ru/adm/mayor/ Глава города Ставрополя Дмитрий Сергеевич Кузьмин] Retrieved on 2007-12-01.] Evidently, a known figure in the city, Kuzmin won the popular mayoral election of 2003. His name attracted significant national attention in early 2007, when he succeeded in retaining his mayoral seat, in an electoral atmosphere considered rather inhospitable to his efforts. Although he represented a party friendly toward the ruling elite, a significant mayoral victory for a new party in contest with the major 'party of power' was seen as a salient element of what increasingly came to be seen, as [at least the English-language] media often portrayed it, a vote on the country's tightening political course.

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External links

* [http://www.economist.com/research/backgrounders/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8856077 The Kremlin's new cookbook]
* [http://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/184195.html Верховный суд отклонил кассационную жалобу по делу мэра Ставрополя Дмитрия Кузьмина]
* [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/03/23/011.html Just Russia's Victory Paralyzes Stavropol]
* [http://www.kommersant.com/p735542/presidential_elections/ Things to Come]
* [http://www.expat.ru/analitics.php?item=259 Election Speculations]