January 29, 2024 – 1:57 pm
Current Russian President Vladimir Putin has been registered as the fourth candidate ahead of the Russian presidential elections to be held on March 15, 16 and 17 this year, the Central Election Commission has announced, MTI reports.
The head of the committee, Kelin Pamfilova, commented on the decision by saying that it was “unanimously accepted,” and nothing prevents Putin from running for president again after the years 2000, 2004, 2012, and 2018. Russia's current leader is participating in the elections as an independent, but with the support of the ruling United Russia party, after his staff submitted a total of 315,000 signatures in support of the committee instead of the required minimum of 300,000.
Among the signatures, 60,000 signatures were randomly checked, and only 91 signatures were found to be invalid, but according to the official statement on the matter, these signatures were not invalid either. The Central Election Commission had previously registered Leonid Slutsky, Vladislav Davankov, and Nikolai Kharitonov, who represent three other parliamentary parties: the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, the New People's Party, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
