Political news in Russia has been making headlines in recent hours, with the death of opposition figure Alexeï Navalny in prison on Friday. As the country mourns this loss, the electoral campaign officially opens on Saturday, February 17, in preparation for the presidential election scheduled a month later.
The upper house of the Russian Parliament announced that the first round of voting will take place from March 15 to 17. The decision to hold voting over several days was initially presented as a measure to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. However, this procedure has since been maintained during several national and regional elections.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Volodymyr Zelensky In Paris Holding Key Discussions With Emmanuel Macron
It comes as no surprise that there will be few candidates on the starting line, with Vladimir Putin poised to dominate the race. Having already spent almost a quarter of a century in power, Putin announced on December 8 that he would be running for re-election, citing that he had “no other choice.”
Thanks to a controversial constitutional reform passed in 2020 amid the pandemic, Putin, now 71, can remain in the Kremlin until 2036. His overwhelming re-election in the first round on March 17 seems inevitable, as no rival appears capable of challenging his authority.
Most major opponents have either been imprisoned, driven into exile, or tragically deceased, like Alexeï Navalny, whose death in prison in northern Siberia has sparked outrage in Western countries.
Carole Grimaud-Potter, a specialist in Russian geopolitics and professor at the University of Montpellier, comments, “The affair will not tarnish Vladimir Putin’s presidential campaign. His opponents have also been excluded from the electoral campaign, so we will not hear their voices expressing outrage over the treatment of Alexeï Navalny in prison, which ultimately led to his death.”
Boris Nadezhdine, the only opponent of Putin who presented himself and openly criticized Putin’s actions in Ukraine, had his candidacy rejected by the Electoral Commission on February 8. He was accused of irregularities in the collection of the required 100,000 voter endorsement signatures.
Nadezhdine, a discreet veteran of political life who represents the hopes of Russians opposed to Kremlin policies, has indicated that he intends to challenge the rejection of his candidacy in court. However, his chances of success are nearly nonexistent.
In Russia, five parties can field candidates without needing to provide citizen endorsement signatures: United Russia, Just Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Communist Party, and New People.
The other three official candidates for the upcoming election represent the bottom three. Leonid Sloutsky, 52, running for the Liberal Democratic Party, quickly clarified his intentions by predicting a “huge” victory for Vladimir Putin. While his party is theoretically considered part of the parliamentary opposition, in reality, it ranks behind the president.
Nikolai Kharitonov, 75, represents the Communist Party, which secured 12% of the votes in the first round six years ago. However, his candidacy is not a true opposition since the party also supports Kremlin policies. Kharitonov, for example, wisely declared at the end of December, “I cannot say that I am better than Putin,” as reported by Francetvinfo.
