Moscow mayor Sobyanin could resign to run for re-election in September

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin could resign from his post Tuesday and run for re-election as early as September. This will allow him to run in the mayoral election, which is likely to take place on Sept. 8, 2013, the Moscow Times newspaper reports.

Among other candidates are multibillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, leader of the Civic Platform party, and opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny, who also confirmed his readiness to run for mayoral elections.

The primary elections had been set to take place in 2015. According to the Moscow Times newspaper, the resignation and calling an early election would give Sobyanin a significant advantage over his rivals, as it would give them only two months to prepare their election campaigns.

According to recent polls, conducted by the Moscow State University, Sobyanin has approval rating of 54 per cent while his rival Prokhorov has an approval rating of just 12 percent.

Members of Sobyanin's cabinet have not yet been officially informed about his possible departure. Sobyanin is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin later on Tuesday.