page_title: Valentina Matviyenko
section_title: Election
hierarchical_section_title: Valentina Matviyenko / Governor of Saint Petersburg / Election
caption_attribution_description: English: ST PETERSBURG. French President Jacques Chirac, German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (centre) and Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Valentina Matviyenko at the opening of the Water Festival on the Neva River. Русский: САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ. Президент Франции Жак Ширак, Федеральный канцлер ФРГ Герхард Шрёдер (в центре) и полномочный представитель Президента России в Северо-Западном федеральном округе РФ Валентина Матвиенко на церемонии открытия водного праздника на Неве.
context_page_description: Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko is a Russian politician serving as the Senator from Saint Petersburg and Chairwoman of the Federation Council since 2011. Previously she was Governor of Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2011.
  Born in Ukraine, Matviyenko started her political career in the 1980s in Leningrad, and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Communist Party of the City from 1984 to 1986. In the 1990s, Matviyenko served as the Russian Ambassador to Malta, and to Greece. From 1998 to 2003, Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time, Matviyenko was firmly allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an alliance which secured her a victory in the gubernatorial elections in Saint Petersburg, Putin's native city.
  Matviyenko became the first female leader of Saint Petersburg.
context_section_description: On 24 June 2003, after Saint Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev resigned ahead of schedule, Matviyenko announced that she was ready to run for governor. Her nomination was supported by the United Russia political party and President Vladimir Putin. Putin publicly supported her candidacy on 2 September in a meeting that was broadcast by two state-owned TV stations. Previously, at the end of June, the new management of local channel St. Petersburg Television shut down a range of analytical programmes on local politics, which was thought to be one of the factors in elections outcome.
  In the first round of elections held on 21 September 2003, Matviyenko came first with 48.61% of the vote, followed by Anna Markova, a former member of Yakovlev's staff, with 15.89%. 10.97 percent of the electorate voted against all nine nominees. Turnout was low at just 29%. On 5 October 2003 Matviyenko won the second round with 63 percent (vs. 24% for Anna Markova) and was elected governor of Saint Petersburg, the head of the Saint Petersburg City Administration. She became the first female head of government of Saint Petersburg.
caption: French President Jacques Chirac, Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder and Valentina Matviyenko during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg in 2003.
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