Residents of the Komi Republic, one of the most protest regions in Russia, want to hold a referendum on the return of direct elections for city mayors and heads of municipalities. They believe that appointed officials will never fulfill the will of the people, because they report not to them, but to their superiors. Because of this, the region has destroyed roads, unrepaired hospitals and schools, and dying villages. The activists have already gone through several stages – they collected signatures and submitted an application to the election commission, which it unexpectedly approved. Now they are waiting for the decision of the State Council of the Republic.
The organizers of the referendum believe: we must “oppose the wrong course of our country.” And in case of its success and the return of direct elections of local authorities, the imperial policy will begin to crumble. Elected heads of municipalities will be interested in local development, and not in the war that is being imposed from moscow.
