Vladimir Putin, has been registered as a self-nominated presidential candidate by Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) according to CEC Chairperson Ella Pamfilova on 29 Jan (local time). This decision was reached unanimously and ensures his presence on the ballot for the upcoming election scheduled from March 15-17.
CEC Secretary Natalya Budarina confirmed that, in accordance with the law, a total of 60,000 voter signatures were selected at random for verification out of the 315,000 signatures collected in support of Putin. She emphasized that after the verification process, it was found that 91 signatures out of the 60,000 were invalid due to incorrect voter information. These 91 invalid signatures account for only 0.15% of the verified signatures.
The upcoming presidential election in Russia is scheduled to take place from 15th to 17th March 2024. This will mark the eighth presidential election in the country's history. In the event that no candidate secures more than half of the votes, a second round will be held precisely three weeks later, on 7th April 2024. Following the election, the winner is set to be inaugurated on 7th May 2024.
Budarina made it clear that there were no fake signatures among the verified ones. The number of genuine and valid voter signatures amounts to 314,909, which is more than sufficient for the candidate's registration.
It is worth noting that Putin is the fourth candidate to be registered by the CEC for the presidential election. Prior to this, candidates from three parliamentary parties, namely Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Vladislav Davankov of New People, and Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), were also registered.
The forthcoming presidential election marks the fifth instance of Putin's participation in such a competition throughout his political journey. Initially assuming the presidency in 2000, he secured re-election in 2004, followed by another victory in 2012.
Subsequently, after serving as prime minister from 2008 to 2012, Putin triumphed once more in 2018. Notably, his most impressive achievement at the ballot box occurred in 2018, garnering an overwhelming 76.69% of the vote.
