Representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), who had previously protested against the establishment of a garbage site in the rural settlement of Stebayevo, secured all ten mandates in the local council elections. The results were announced by the Lipetsk Oblast electoral committee on December 4.
CPRF candidates won all the mandates in the Stebayevo rural settlement council during the elections held on December 2 and 3. They competed against ten representatives from the ruling party, United Russia, three members of Spravedlivaya Rossiya (A Just Russia), and four independent candidates.
The communists secured victory despite conflicts with the electoral committee and representatives of the ruling party. For example, a CPRF observer was removed from the polling location for filming; the CPRF also accused United Russia of illegally transporting voters to the site.
According to the Kommersant newspaper, the last elections in the Stebayevo rural settlement council occurred in 2020. At that time, the number of seats was reduced from ten to seven, and all mandates were claimed by United Russia members who supported changes to the master plan for constructing an eco-industrial park.
The communists backed Stebayevo residents in their protests against the park's construction. For over a year, they called for a halt to the project, organized pickets, and lodged complaints with the prosecutor's office.
A Lipetsk official, Lyubov Frolova, even accused the environmental activists of sectarianism, alleging that they conducted shamanistic rituals with tambourines on the future eco-industrial park's premises.
