The 2025 Rostov Oblast gubernatorial election took place on 12–14 September 2025, on common election day. Acting Governor of Rostov Oblast Yury Slyusar was elected for a full term in office.

Background Vasily Golubev, Head of Administration of Leninsky District in Moscow Oblast, was elected Governor of Rostov Oblast in June 2010 by the Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast, replacing retiring four-term incumbent Vladimir Chub. Golubev ran for re-election in 2015 and 2020, winning with 78.21% and 65.53% of the vote respectively.

In 2024 Golubev was rumoured to resign early ahead of the 2025 election. On November 4, 2024, Golubev announced his resignation and later that day President of Russia Vladimir Putin appointed United Aircraft Corporation CEO Yury Slyusar as acting Governor of Rostov Oblast. Experts mostly cited Golubev's long tenure in office as the main reason for his resignation (he was third longest-serving governor at the time of his resignation), however, declining approval ratings might also be the deciding factor. Later in November 2024 Golubev was appointed to the Federation Council by the Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast, replacing incumbent Senator Irina Rukavishnikova.

Candidates In Rostov Oblast candidates for Governor of Rostov Oblast can be nominated only by registered political parties. Candidate for Governor of Rostov Oblast should be a Russian citizen and at least 30 years old. Candidates for Governor of Rostov Oblast should not have a foreign citizenship or residence permit. Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 5% of signatures of members and heads of municipalities. Also gubernatorial candidates present 3 candidacies to the Federation Council and election winner later appoints one of the presented candidates.

Candidate name,political partyOccupationStatusRef.Yevgeny BessonovCommunist Party Member of State Duma (2021–present)2020 gubernatorial candidateRegisteredDenis FrashLiberal Democratic Party Member of Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast (2023–present)BusinessmanRegisteredYury KlimchenkoParty of Pensioners Pensioner2024 Murmansk Oblast gubernatorial candidateRegisteredSergey KosinovSR–ZP Former Member of Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast (2013–2023)RegisteredYury SlyusarUnited Russia Acting Governor of Rostov Oblast (2024–present)Former general director of United Aircraft Corporation (2019–2024)Registered

Eliminated in the primary Arkady Gershman (United Russia), former Member of City Duma of Shakhty (2015–2020), businessman Maksim Zakharov (United Russia), Member of Assembly of Deputies of Neklinovsky District (2016–present), businessman

Declined Konstantin Babkin (LDPR), owner of Rostselmash, Empils and Buhler Industries, former chairman of the Party of Business (2010–2024)

Candidates for Federation Council Head candidate,political partyCandidates for Federation CouncilStatusYury SlyusarUnited Russia * Aleksandr Ishchenko, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast (2016–present)* Tatyana Karasyova, Defenders of the Fatherland state fund regional director * Andrey Yatskin, incumbent Senator (2020–present), First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council (2020–present)Registered

Finances All sums are in rubles. Financial Report Source Bessonov Frash Klimchenko Kosinov Slyusar First 1,000,000 500,000 5,500,000 1,352,000 61,850,000 Final 3,134,350 2,698,500 5,500,000 2,069,489 62,600,000

Polls Fieldwork datePolling firm Slyusar Bessonov Frash Kosinov KlimchenkoLead14 September 20252025 election81.39.23.52.92.672.19–22 August 2025FOM79.49.35.73.31.270.1

Results

|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" ! style="text-align:left;" colspan=2| Candidate ! style="text-align:left;"| Party ! width="75"|Votes ! width="30"|% |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Yury Slyusar (incumbent) | style="text-align:left;"| United Russia | | 81.25 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Yevgeny Bessonov | style="text-align:left;"| Communist Party | | 9.17 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Denis Frash | style="text-align:left;"| Liberal Democratic Party | | 3.47 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sergey Kosinov | style="text-align:left;"| A Just Russia – For Truth | | 2.88 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Yury Klimchenko | style="text-align:left;"| Party of Pensioners | | 2.55 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Valid votes | | 99.32 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Blank ballots | | 0.68 |- style="font-weight:bold" | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Total | | 100.00 |- | style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" colspan="6"| |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Turnout | | 60.92 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Registered voters | | 100.00 |- | colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;"| |- style="font-weight:bold" | colspan="4" |Source:

Governor Slyusar re-appointed incumbent Senator Andrey Yatskin (United Russia) to the Federation Council.

See also 2025 Russian regional elections

References