Russia’s Central Election Commission registers Putin as candidate in upcoming presidential elections

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation on Monday registered incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin as a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential elections.

Ella Pamfilova, chairperson of the CEC, announced that the decision was adopted unanimously.

According to CEC Secretary Natalya Budarina, 315,000 voter signatures were submitted in support of the current Russian president. This exceeds the threshold of 300,000, the number a self-nominated candidate must collect to officially register according to Russian law.

The CEC had previously registered three other candidates, namely leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky; Vladislav Davankov, who was nominated by the country’s New People Party; and Nikolai Kharitonov, a candidate nominated by the Russian Communist Party.

The Russian presidential elections will be held on March 15-17.