Vladimir Putin met with the newly elected heads of the regions

Today, in Sochi the Russian President Vladimir Putin met with heads of 22 Russian Federation regions elected on the single election day on September 13, 2015. Among them there was the Acting Governor of Smolensk region Alexey Ostrovskiy. The meeting discussed the results of the election campaigns and plans for the future as regards the development of the Russian regions.

 “I believe it is important that the citizens support those political forces that back the country’s progressive development and consolidation of its sovereignty, support those candidates who are closer to people, whom the people see, know and understand what these candidates competing for various posts want to achieve, first of all, for their voters”,- Vladimir Putin addressed the heads of regions. - The election campaign was open, honest and sometimes quite fierce. As regards the election of the regional heads, in some regions the fight was for every vote, and in one region, as you know, the second round will need to be held to determine the winning candidate”.

According to the President, this election campaign once again confirmed that the parliamentary parties play a key, system-forming role in our nation’s political life. Their representatives were the main competitors in the Governor elections. Meanwhile, the non-parliamentary parties are drawing increasing attention; they actively participated in the last election at many different levels.

Colleagues, the support you received from citizens means exactly one thing: you must work with greater impact, with even more concerted effort. This is true of you and your teams.

We need to constantly give attention to people, regardless of the political calendar, and we must do this without resorting to current difficulties, without shying away from problems. And friends, what’s most important is that if you have come into power, if you have been elected, if the people have entrusted you with such high offices, then you must work honestly and ensure your full dedication; otherwise, you should not have campaigned to be elected", - said Vladimir Putin.