The 2026 Tver Oblast gubernatorial election took place on 18–20 September 2026, on common election day, to elect the Governor of Tver Oblast, coinciding with the 2026 Tver Oblast legislative election and the 2026 Russian legislative election. Acting Governor Vitaly Korolyov was elected for a full term in office.

Background Igor Rudenya, an agriculture executive and former high-ranking Government of Russia staffer, was appointed acting Governor of Tver Oblast in March 2016, replacing one-term incumbent Andrey Shevelyov. Rudenya won the election for full term in September 2016 with 72.13% of the vote. Governor Rudenya ran for a second term in 2021 and won re-election with a lackluster 52.33% of the vote, narrowly crossing the 50%-threshold to avoid a runoff. During his two terms in office Rudenya did not became a political heavyweight and allegedly grew tired of leading Tver Oblast.

In late September 2025 Igor Rudenya was named a potential candidate for a position of Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District, left vacant by a newly-appointed Prosecutor General of Russia Aleksandr Gutsan. On September 28, 2025, Rudenya was appointed Presidential Envoy by President of Russia Vladimir Putin and resigned from office, while Deputy Chairwoman of the Tver Oblast Government – Minister of Finance Marina Podtikhova became acting Governor of Tver Oblast on a temporary basis. Several candidates were considered for Rudenya's replacement, including Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia Denis Butsayev (who briefly served as acting Governor of Belgorod Oblast in 2020), former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia , First Deputy Governor of Tomsk Oblast , Hero of Russia , and former Tver mayor Vasily Toloko, however, some of the candidates allegedly declined the position which resulted in a monthlong vacancy. On November 4, 2025, Putin appointed Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Vitaly Korolyov as acting Governor of Tver Oblast, replacing Podtikhova. Korolyov was previously named a potential candidate to replace then-Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Aleksandr Uss in 2023.

Candidates In Tver Oblast candidates for governor of Tver Oblast can be nominated only by registered political parties. A candidate for Governor of Tver Oblast should be a Russian citizen and at least 30 years old. Candidates for Governor of Tver Oblast should not have a foreign citizenship or residence permit. Each candidate in order to be registered is required to collect at least 7% of the signatures of municipal deputies and heads of municipalities. Also gubernatorial candidates present 3 candidacies to the Federation Council and election winner later appoints one of the presented candidates.

On June 25, 2026, Moskovsky District Court of Tver blocked Communist Party of the Russian Federation from holding its party conference on June 27 due to legal action from several expelled party members. The conference was initially postponed by the court until July 14, a day after the filing deadline for gubernatorial candidates, which would have left Communist Party without its nominee for the upcoming election. CPRF was later allowed to held its conference on July 8, where the party fielded its candidates for the gubernatorial and legislative elections.

Declared candidates Candidate name,political partyOccupationStatusRef.Vitaly KorolyovUnited Russia Acting Governor of Tver Oblast (2025–present)Former Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (2015–2025)RegisteredOlga LevinaLiberal Democratic Party Client manager at Ozon regional officeRegisteredSergey MalinkovichCommunists of Russia Member of Altai Krai Legislative Assembly (2021–present)Chairman of the Communists of Russia party (2022–present)Perennial candidate2024 presidential candidateRegisteredTatyana PetrovaA Just Russia Private clinic ownerRegisteredLyudmila VorobyovaCommunist Party Member of Legislative Assembly of Tver Oblast (2006–present)2021 gubernatorial candidateRegisteredIgor YakovenkoParty of Pensioners Deputy director of the Russian University of Medicine, Lipetsk branchRegistered

Declined Oleg Lebedev (CPRF), Member of State Duma (2012–present)

Candidates for Federation Council Gubernatorial candidate,political partyCandidates for Federation CouncilStatusVitaly KorolyovUnited Russia * , Ambassador of Russia to France (2017–present)* Yulia Saranova, Member of State Duma (2021–present)* Lyudmila Skakovskaya, incumbent Senator (2021–present)RegisteredOlga LevinaLiberal Democratic Party * Aleksandr Parfenovich, party coordinator in Tver* Konstantin Shumakov, engineering executive* Natalia Vdovina, Member of Kalyazinsky District Duma (2023–present)RegisteredSergey MalinkovichCommunists of Russia * Vera Bogacheva, perennial candidate* Vitaly Duryagin, pensioner* Dmitry Slitinsky, IT engineer, perennial candidateRegisteredTatyana PetrovaA Just Russia * Eduard Belykh, Member of Legislative Assembly of Tver Oblast (2011–present)* Artyom Goncharov, Member of Legislative Assembly of Tver Oblast (2011–present)* Dmitry Ignatkov, former Member of Tver City Duma (2017–2022), engineer, 2021 gubernatorial candidateRegisteredLyudmila VorobyovaCommunist Party * Aleksandr Grishin, Member of Legislative Assembly of Tver Oblast (2001–2011, 2021–present), 2003 gubernatorial candidate* Yevgeny Rasskazov, individual entrepreneur* Vyacheslav Rassolov, tekhnikum supply managerRegisteredIgor YakovenkoParty of Pensioners * Aleksandr Abramov, retired police podpolkovnik* Viktor Kuznetsov, lawyer* Maya Moreva, former Deputy Mayor of Solnechnogorsk (2016–2025)Registered

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;"| Vitaly Korolyov (incumbent) | style="text-align:left;"| United Russia | | 69.48 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Lyudmila Vorobyova | style="text-align:left;"| Communist Party | | 10.49 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Olga Levina | style="text-align:left;"| Liberal Democratic Party | | 6.44 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Tatyana Petrova | style="text-align:left;"| A Just Russia | | 5.64 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sergey Malinkovich | style="text-align:left;"| Communists of Russia | | 2.93 |- | style="background-color:"| | style="text-align:left;"| Igor Yakovenko | style="text-align:left;"| Party of Pensioners | | 1.94 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Valid votes | | 96.90 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Blank ballots | | 3.10 |- 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 | | 46.22 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Registered voters | | 100.00 |- | colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;"| |- style="font-weight:bold" | colspan="4" |Source:

Governor Korolyov appointed Ambassador of Russia to France (Independent) to the Federation Council, replacing incumbent Senator Lyudmila Skakovskaya (United Russia).

See also 2026 Russian regional elections

References