The Associated Press reported that Russia’s Central Election Commission announced on the 29th (local time) that President Vladimir Putin has officially registered as a candidate for the presidential election to be held from March 15th to 17th.
The National Election Commission officially approved Putin’s campaign after reviewing 315,000 signatures collected by his campaign. Russian election law requires independent candidates to submit at least 300,000 signatures to participate in the vote.
Putin ran as an independent in this presidential election, and regional organizations of the ruling United Russia Party and the All-Russian National Front, a pro-Kremlin outer political organization, collected signatures supporting his candidacy. In this presidential election, it is almost certain that President Putin will serve another six years in office.
AP said, “President Putin, 71, is running as an independent candidate, but he maintains strong control over the Russian political system he built during his 24 years in power,” adding, “There are prominent critics who can challenge him.” “With him incarcerated or abroad, and most independent media banned, his chances of winning a second term in March appear almost certain.”
Prior to this, the National Election Commission had already approved the registration of three other presidential candidates who had been nominated as presidential candidates by each political party in Congress and did not need to receive signatures. Three people, including Nikolai Kharitonov of the Russian Communist Party, Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), and Vladislav Davanko of the New People’s Party (NPP), were registered as presidential candidates before President Putin.
All three parties have generally supported the Kremlin’s policies. Among them, Kharitonov ran against Putin in 2004 and came in second place by a narrow margin.
Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old progressive politician from the Citizens’ Initiative Party who serves as a local councilor in a region near Moscow, is also seeking to run for president. He publicly called for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and a dialogue with the West.
Thousands of Russians lined up across the country to leave signatures in support of Nadezhdin’s presidential bid, an unusual demonstration of sympathy for the opposition in a political environment where challenges to the Kremlin are tightly controlled.
The National Election Commission is expected to review Nadezdin’s documents later this week and decide whether to register as a presidential candidate.
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.