Aleksandr Nikitin served as
Head of Administration of Tambov Oblast since 2015, replacing 15-year incumbent
Oleg Betin. That year, Nikitin won the
election for a full term with 85.47% of the vote. Nikitin won a second term in
2020 with 79.30% of the vote. Despite modest economic achievements, Nikitin's term was marked by poor consolidation of regional elite, which resulted in several setbacks for the administration. One of them was
United Russia's defeat in the 2020
Tambov City Duma elections, when
Rodina, affiliated with former Tambov Mayor
Maksim Kosenkov won 26 seats out of 36. On 4 October 2021 Nikitin resigned just one year into his second term, Deputy
Minister of Construction Maksim Yegorov was appointed acting
Head of Administration of Tambov Oblast. Nikitin was appointed to the
Federation Council by
Tambov Oblast Duma on 7 October. Due to the start of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent
economic sanctions, the cancellation and postponement of direct gubernatorial elections was proposed. The measure was even supported by
A Just Russia leader
Sergey Mironov. Eventually, on 7 June
Tambov Oblast Duma called the gubernatorial election for 11 September 2022. ==Candidates==