Presidential Election Headquarters: “We continue to collect signatures…the number will increase further.”
Putin, running as an independent candidate, needs more than 315,000 signatures
Russian President Vladimir Putin has secured more than 1.3 million signatures to run in the presidential election in March.
According to TASS on the 8th (local time), Mariyana Lysenko, co-chair of Putin’s presidential election headquarters, told reporters on this day, “More than 1.3 million people have currently signed the signatures necessary for President Putin to run for president.”
“The work to collect signatures will continue,” he said, adding, “We expect this number to grow further.”
To run for president, you must submit a certain number of signatures. President Putin, who is running as an independent candidate, met the qualifications to run by receiving more than 315,000 signatures.
Chairman Lysenko worked as a doctor at a city hospital in the capital Moscow before joining the election headquarters and accepting the position. Chairman Lysenko was recognized as a Labor Hero of 2020 for his contribution to overcoming coronavirus infection-19.
In addition, Artyom Zoga, Chairman of the Parliament of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), and Vladimir Mashikov, Artistic Director of the Olegtabakov Theater, served as co-chairs.
The election headquarters was installed and opened in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow, on the 21st of last month. In the 2018 presidential election, President Putin had his election headquarters in the same location.
President Putin officially announced his candidacy for the presidential election on the 8th of last month. In addition, Leonid Slutsky, a pro-regime member of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament), was nominated by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and was added to the list of candidates.
Russia has restricted the political activities of opposition figures. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the level of repression against opposition figures has increased.
Alexei Navalny, who is serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges, was placed in harsh conditions when he was transferred to a Siberian prison near the Arctic Circle last month. His close associate, Tomsk city councilor Kseniu Padeevu, and other people around him were sentenced to prison on charges of organizing extremist groups.
Navalny is considered a representative political opponent of President Putin. He has been disqualified from running in elections since 2018 due to fraud charges.
Russian journalist and lawyer Ekaterina Dunchova filed her candidacy in the presidential election, but it was rejected by Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC). She cited the fact that there were procedural defects in her candidate registration documents, etc.
The Russian presidential election will be held from March 15th to 17th next year. Russia also included Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye oblasts taken from Ukraine as constituencies. The Krum Peninsula, which was forcibly annexed in 2014, will also hold elections.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.