Putin officially registered his candidacy for presidential election

Vladimir Putin has held the presidency since 2000 (with a break from 2008-2012, when Dmitry Medvedev became president). The constitutional amendments made will theoretically allow him to rule until 2036. This is the current president's fifth election campaign.

Formally, Putin is running as an independent candidate. The election commission has approved 315,000 signatures collected for his candidacy (regulations require candidates to collect at least 300,000 signatures). Voting will take place on March 15-17

- I won’t hide it from you — I had various thoughts about it over time, but now, you’re right. It’s necessary to decide. I will run for president of the Russian Federation - said Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Election Commission registered as candidates Vladislav Davankov, deputy speaker of the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist LDPR party and member of the New People party, and Nikolai Kharitonov, Duma deputy from the Communist party.

Does anyone have a realistic chance of election with the current Russian president? Probably not, because the other most serious candidates were not allowed to participate in the election. Notably missing from the election is Putin's biggest critic, Alexei Navalny. Navalny is a Russian opposition figure who was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison by the authorities. He is imprisoned behind the Arctic Circle for criticizing the president and anti-corruption efforts. On the other hand, we have Yekatrina Duntsova, a candidate who advocates ending the war in Ukraine. However, the Russian election commission rejected her candidacy in December, citing "errors in documentation".

The last candidate who has a chance to fight with Putin in this election is anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhin of the Civic Initiative party. However, he still needs 105,000 signatures, which he must collect by Wednesday.

Experts point out that Russia's elections will not meet the requirements of fairness and independence. The immediate cause is said to be the increased repression of the Russian opposition since the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022. And a law that censors freedom of speech, including criticism of the current president of Russia.

Source: Fox News