After cleaning the administration offices of her boss for the last 4 years, 35 year old Marina Udgodskaya now finds herself in a place she will be replacing her boss having won the election she didn’t plan on taking part of.
Her boss was running alone in the elections but because the rules state that at least two people should run in order for the elections to take place, Nikolai Loktev asked his cleaner Marina to stand as his opponent so that he can get re-elected into office.
To the surprise of Nikolai, Marina got the majority of the votes where she won by 62% of the vote. The former cleaner will now lay her tools down to take on the role of leading her village Povalikhino.
One member of the local electoral commission said “Nikolai Loktev thought no one would vote for her and he would stay in the job,” but the people had had enough and they came out and chose Marina Udgodskaya.”
“He was amazed and she was flabbergasted!” the woman, who didn’t want to be identified, laughed down the phone line. In one early interview she appeared stunned by her win, describing herself as a “fake” candidate who was “not ready” for such rapid promotion.
“I didn’t think people would actually vote for me,” she told Telegram news channel Podyom. “I didn’t do anything at all!”
Marina Udgodskaya didn’t think she would win the election
On Thursday, Udgodskaya was inaugurated as head of Povalikhino, the largest of 29 villages in the Kostroma region 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow. Their combined population totals around 400 people. Mr. Loktev says that he wishes Marina all the best and holds no grudge against her. He insists that there are no problems in the village.
“I’ve done everything necessary in the job; there are no problems in the village,” Mr Loktev told the BBC on one of his last days in office, struggling to understand his defeat. “Clearly the people wanted change,” the 58-year-old former policeman concluded.
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