MOSCOW, Dec 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 30 people are seeking nomination as candidates for the post of Russian president, the campaign will definitely be competitive, Russian Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova told TASS in an interview.
“Of course, the campaign will be competitive, because it is obvious that there will be more than one candidate. In any case, there are now more than 30 candidates,” she said.
The CEC chief pointed out that now the candidates have “organizational time”, they “hold events, parties hold congresses.” “In my opinion, the level of competition depends not so much on the number of candidates as on their quality,” Pamfilova added.
Presidential elections in Russia will be held on March 15–17, 2024, the eighth presidential election in the country.
If no candidate receives more than half the vote, a second round will take place exactly three weeks later, on April 7. The winner is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 7.
In November 2023, former member of the State Duma Boris Nadezhdin became the first person backed by a registered political party to announce his candidacy, running on an anti-war platform.
He was followed by incumbent Vladimir Putin in December 2023, who is eligible to seek re-election as a result of 2020 constitutional amendments.
Later the same month, Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party and Vladislav Davankov of New People announced their candidacies.
As was the case in the 2018 presidential election, the most prominent member of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, is barred from running due to a prior criminal conviction, and it was expected that he would remain imprisoned during the election.
Many observers, particularly in Western countries, expect the election process to be dominated by Putin. — NNN-AGENCIES
