Mr. Putin officially became a presidential candidate

The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on January 29 that it has officially registered incumbent President Vladimir Putin as a self-nominated presidential candidate, according to TASS. The Russian presidential election will take place from March 15-17. "The decision was unanimously adopted," said CEC Chairperson Ella Pamfilova.

President Vladimir Putin has officially become a candidate in the presidential election this coming March.

To become a candidate, each person had to collect at least 300,000 signatures. The CEC selected 60,000 names randomly from 315,000 of Putin's supporters for verification, according to CEC Secretary Natalya Budarina.

As a result, 91 signatures were deemed invalid due to inaccurate voter information, Budarina said.

Putin is the fourth presidential candidate registered by the CEC, alongside Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladislav Davankov of the New People's Party, and Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

The upcoming election will be the fifth time Putin (72 years old) has run for office. He was first elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, 2012, and 2018. Most recently, the leader achieved his best result with 76.69% of the vote. From 2008 to 2012, Putin served as Prime Minister of Russia.

With changes to term limits following the 2020 constitutional reform, Putin could remain in office until 2036 if he wins this election and then wins again after another six years, according to AFP.

The CEC said it would hold votes in four regions that Russia claimed to have annexed from Ukraine last year and in the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. Ukraine does not recognize the entire annexation.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/ong-putin-chinh-thuc-tro-thanh-ung-vien-tong-thong-185240129181601006.htm