Russian Presidential election: Putin’s main opposition clears first step in bid for presidency

NewsBharati 25-Dec-2017

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Moscow, December 25: While everyone was almost sure about Russian President Putin’s re-election in 2018, in a turn of events hundreds of supporters of Putin’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny nominated him for president Sunday. Navalny's rerun is uncertain a he is a convict in the corruption case but his supports across the country is putting pressure on Kremlin to allow him to run in 2018 Presidential election.

Navalny's supporters across the country met in 20 cities to secure signatures in support of him. He said he gathered enough nominations to challenge Vladimir Putin in March's presidential election. He also termed his conviction as a politically motivated decision. He ran a yearlong grass root campaign and managed to gain over 700 support while 500 is minimum to initiate a Presidential bid.

With official notification, Russia’s presidential election campaign started from December 18. Upper house of Russian Parliament published in Monday edition of the official newspaper. On Friday, Upper house set the final date of election as March 18. The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) will approve the plan of the upcoming election campaign soon.

Till now, most of the pre-polls predict Russian President Vladimir Putin will again come back as the head of the state. 83.3% of Russians, certainly planning to cast their ballot, was ready to vote for Vladimir Putin during the presidential election if it took place on last Sunday.

Russia Presidential Poll Vladimir Putin Kremlin Alexei Navalny