Moscow lawmakers may debate Sobyanin's nomination on Oct. 21

Moscow City Duma was likely to convene an extraordinary session on Oct. 21 to consider President Dmitry Medvedev's nomination of Sergei Sobyanin for mayor, a senior official said Sunday.

"The nomination was received on Saturday. On Monday, Oct. 18, the commission for organizing the work of the Moscow City Duma will officially name the date of the emergency session at which the mayor will be elected," the unnamed official was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

The extraordinary session to debate the mayoral nomination, "is likely to be held on Thursday morning, October 21," he added.

On Friday, Medvedev nominated Deputy Prime Minister and head of Kremlin administration Sobyanin as the new Moscow mayor.

According to Moscow Duma Speaker Vladimir Platonov, the city Duma has received all necessary documents on 52-year-old Sobyanin's candidacy. Analysts believed the approval of his candidacy would simply be formality.

The nomination of Sobyanin "is Medvedev's creation -- the man who was his campaign manager, who has extremely valuable experience working with (Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin's office and government," said Vladislav Surkov, first deputy head of Kremlin administration.

For Sobyanin, "the constitutional principle of oneness of the executive branch, and of its regional and federal levels, are not empty words," Surkov said in an interview with online magazine Vzglyad.

The appointment of Sobyanin would strengthen Putin's position, if the Russian prime minister makes a bid for the 2012 presidential elections, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Source: Xinhua