Russian presidential candidates: what is known, the main thing about Putin, Davankov, Kharitonov and Slutsky

Four candidates will compete for the post of President of Russia in the upcoming elections. This was stated by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Ella Pamfilova.

On February 8, the federal body held a regular meeting dedicated to organizing the elections. “Today we are ending a certain cycle, because as a result of our meeting today, we are already completely clear that there will be four candidates on the ballot,” Pamfilova said following its results.

Two of the candidates have already taken part in presidential elections, and two will do so for the first time.

Vladislav Davankov, “New People”

Member of the New People party, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov, like other candidates from parties represented in the lower house of parliament, did not have to collect signatures in their support. The decision to register it was made unanimously by the Central Election Commission on January 5.

Before entering politics, Davankov was engaged in entrepreneurship. In 2013, he took the post of vice president of Faberlic, founded by entrepreneur and politician Alexei Nechaev. In 2020, Davankov participated in the formation of the New People party, subsequently receiving a faction in the State Duma.

In 2023, Davankov took part in the elections for the mayor of Moscow, taking fourth place with a result of 5.34 percent of the vote.

Vladimir Putin, self-nominated

On January 22, 95 boxes with signatures in support of Vladimir Putin were handed over to the Central Election Commission. As First Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council Andrei Turchak said, his nomination was supported by more than 3.5 million people.

The current presidential term is Putin's fourth. He was first elected head of state on March 26, 2000, and was then re-elected in 2004, 2012 and 2018. Putin received the right to stand as a candidate for elections in 2024 after the adoption of amendments to the Constitution.

Putin began his political career by working in the Leningrad mayor's office in the early 1990s, subsequently taking the post of first deputy head of the government of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak. In 1999, he headed the Russian government, and on December 31, the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who announced his resignation, named him acting head of state.

Leonid Slutsky, LDPR

LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky was nominated as a presidential candidate in December 2023; registration documents were received by the CEC on December 1. The commission approved his participation in the elections unanimously.

Slutsky was first elected to the State Duma in 2003, after which he was re-elected in 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2021. Since 2016, he has headed the lower house of parliament committee on international affairs. In May 2022, the politician replaced Vladimir Zhirinovsky as head of the LDPR, becoming the new chairman of the party. After the start of the special operation, Slutsky was part of the negotiation group between Russia and Ukraine.

Nikolai Kharitonov, Communist Party of the Russian Federation

State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov will take part in the presidential elections for the second time. His candidacy was proposed by the head of the party, Gennady Zyuganov. The CEC registered it on January 9.

In the 1990s, Kharitonov was a member of the Agrarian Party of Russia (APR), and joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2007. In the State Duma, the politician heads the parliamentary committee for the development of the Far East and the Arctic. In March 2004, he already competed with Putin in the presidential elections, finishing second with 13.69 percent of the vote.

The Central Election Commission refused to register four presidential candidates

As a result of the meeting of the election commission held on February 8, registration as candidates for the elections was denied to the leader of the Communists of Russia party Sergei Malinkovich, candidate from the Civil Initiative party Boris Nadezhdin, blogger Rada Russkikh and environmental activist Anatoly Batashev.

As it became known, in the signature lists in support of Nadezhdin and Malinkovich, the number of defects exceeds the permissible threshold of five percent. In addition, according to representatives of the Central Election Commission, dead souls were found in their documents. Russkikh and Batashev were unable to collect the number of signatures required for registration.

The first three-day presidential elections in Russia will be held from March 15 to 17. Citizens of the country will be able to cast their vote both traditionally and remotely. Online voting is available to residents of 29 regions, including Moscow.