Russia's election officials have received a record 64 applications from potential candidates for the March 18 presidential race, the Central Election Commission announced on 2 January, 2018.Who do you think will win this race? Rank and share your ranking before 17 March, 2018!
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Vladimir Putin announced his run on 6 December 2017, during his speech at the GAZ automobile plant.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced his participation in the presidential elections on 28 October 2016 as the candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party. In the event of his election, Zhirinovsky promised to amend the Constitution of Russia and to radically change the polity of the country. In particular, Zhirinovsky promised to abolish the federal structure of Russia and to return to the Governorates, rename the post of "President of Russia" to the "Supreme Ruler of Russia" and to restore Russia's borders to the borders of the USSR as of 1985. In March 2017, Zhirinovsky promised to declare a general amnesty if elected president.
Pavel Grudinin heads the Lenin collective farm outside Moscow and is not officially a member of the Communist Party. He was first nominated by the Left Front movement on Dec. 1 after winning the party’s primaries. Earlier, he served as Putin’s surrogate in the 2000 elections and was voted into the Moscow Duma as a member of the ruling United Russia party in 2007, before quitting the party three years later because of ideological differences.
Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny announced his intention to run for the presidency on 13 December 2016. In early 2017, he traveled to different cities across Russia to open campaign offices and meet with his supporters, despite his involvement in ongoing legal cases that may bar him from running. The American-style campaign by Navalny is unprecedented in modern Russia . The primary focus of Navalny's campaign is combating corruption within the current government under Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He called for mass rallies to be held on March 26, 2017 to bring attention to a documentary he published against the government, after no response was made to the documentary, which over 100,000 people were said to have attended across the country.] The March 26 rally was the largest protest held in Russia since the protests in 2011. On his website, Navalny lists the main principles of his presidential program: combating government corruption, improving infrastructure and living standards in Russia, decentralizing power from Moscow, developing the economy instead of remaining in isolation from the West, and reforming the judicial system. His more specific economic proposals include instituting a minimum wage, lowering prices of apartments and reducing bureaucracy of home construction, making healthcare and education free, lowering taxes for many citizens, taxing the gains from privatization, decentralization of financial management and increase in local governance, increasing transparency in state-owned firms, implementing work visas for Central Asian migrants coming into the country for work, and increasing economic cooperation with western European states.
The vice-president of a Moscow region-based sausage making firm has been nominated by the environmentally friendly Green Alliance party last month. Agurbash, 42, has promised to address the shortage of jobs for working-age Russians, reform the healthcare system and abolish the national unified state exam. Additionally, Agurbash promises to lower the tax burden for small businesses and is seeking to implement life sentences for the embezzlement of state funds.
TV anchor, opposition activist and journalist Ksenia Sobchak announced that she would run for president in October 2017. Sobchak officially announced that she would run for president as an independent candidate on 19 October 2017, in a YouTube video. In the video, Sobchak said she is the candidate “against all”, because since the 2004 election, the “against all” option has been excluded from the ballot, and Sobchak wants to give people the opportunity to again vote “against all”. Soon after, however, Sobchak’s campaign team said that she would be nominated by a political party, namely the People’s Freedom Party or Civil Initiative. On 23 December 2017, at the Civic Initiative convention Ksenia Sobchak was officially nominated for president.
According to Titov, the main task of participation in election is to promote the party's Growth Strategy economic program, which was prepared by the Stolypin Club and presented to President Vladimir Putin in May 2017. During the campaign Titov and his team intend to travel around the country to promote the program. Titov was officially nominated by his party on December 21.
Economist Grigory Yavlinsky announced his presidential bid in February 2016 as the candidate for the liberal party Yabloko. His policies mainly focus on improving the economic situation through governance reforms and stopping involvement in conflicts. He was nominated by the party leader, Emilia Slabunova, who stressed the need to unite all "democratic forces" behind one candidate and noted his political experience, and also received an endorsement from opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov. Among the other proposals he made were to give out several acres of free land to families so they can build home there and develop it, which he said would house 15 million families, and to turn the Russian Armed Forces into a fully professional military by abolishing conscription.
The leader of the “Communists of Russia” party — not to be confused with Zyuganov’s “the Communist Party of the Russian Federation” — is campaigning under the “10 Stalinist Strikes on Capitalism and American Imperialism” platform. In addition to establishing a Warsaw Pact-style defense alliance and restoring a Soviet socialist “Union State,” Suraikin wants to raise the minimum wage to 70,000 rubles ($1,200) and pensions to 40,000 rubles ($700). Suraikin, 39, submitted his candidacy papers to the Central Election Commission last week.
On 22 December 2017, the Russian All-People's Union nominated Sergey Baburin as its presidential candidate. On 24 December Baburin filed registration documents with the CEC. The CEC rejected Baburin's bid on 25 December because it identified violations in the information provided regarding 18 of his party's 48 representatives. Baburin resubmitted the documents and they were approved by the CEC.
Anton Bakov is a businessman, politician, traveller, writer and human rights activist. He is the chairman of the Russian Monarchist Party and was a member of the 4th convocation of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2007.Bakov was nominated at the Monarchist Party's congress on 23 December, 2017. The CEC approved Bakov's documents on 5 January 2018.
On 10 September 2017, Andrei Bogdanov announced that he will run for president.[59] He participated in the 2008 presidential election in which he gained 1.29% of the vote.Despite the fact that he is the leader of the Communist party of Social Justice, Bogdanov will be nominated by the Democratic Party, which he headed earlier.
Journalist, singer-songwriter and activist Yekaterina Gordon announced her candidacy on 30 October 2017. High-profile figures in the world of Russian politics were quick to dismiss and cast doubt on her candidacy. Gordon has commented that she has a “positive [election] programme”. It was initially assumed that she would run as an independent, however she was later nominated by the Party of Good Deeds on 23 December, 2017.
On 21 December 2017 Chestno nominated Roman Khudyakov, Deputy of the Tambov Oblast Duma, as the party's presidential candidate at its congress. The CEC approved his documents on 28 December.
Chairwoman of the Central Council of the National Parent Committee Irina Volynets announced her intention to participate in the election on 25 September 2017
Inventor, entrepreneur, Deputy of the Kostroma Oblast Duma Vladimir Mikhailov said that he will run for the President on 26 July 2017. Mikhailov filed registration documents with the CEC on 28 Decembe which were approved by the CEC on 2 January 2018.
Chairman of the Party of Social Reform Stanislav Polishchuk submitted registration documents to the CEC on 26 December 2017. His documents were approved on 2 January 2018.
Crane operator Lisitsyna was nominated by the Russian United Labour Front at its party congress on 21 December 2017 in St. Petersburg. The party then filed registration documents with the CEC. On 25 December the CEC rejected Lisitsyna‘s bid because she failed the to provide an income statement and the party didn't to inform the CEC about its congress in good time. Lisitsyna resubmitted documents on 27 December.The CEC again refused to approve them due to mistakes that had been made. They were files a third time, and on 5 January 2018 the CEC approved the documents.
Social psychology expert Mikhail Kozlov was nominated as the candidate of the Party of Social Security at its congress on 23 December 2017. Kozlov filed registration documents with the CEC in late December. On 2 January 2018 the CEC rejected his documents due to a missing stamp. Kozlov resubmitted documents, which were approved by the CEC on 5 January.