The Council of the Russian Federation (the upper house of parliament) has adopted a resolution to hold elections in Russia on March 17, 2024. The head of the Russian Federation Council, Matviyenko, said that this decision marks the beginning of the ** election campaign that is about to begin. He pointed out that the upcoming elections are a major event in the country's political life and are of great significance for the future direction of Russia's development.
According to CCTV News, Russia's ** Putin has announced his candidacy for the 2024 ** election on December 8 local time. In addition to Putin, two other people have also announced their plans to run for the elections: Boris Nadezhdin, a former member of the National Duma, and Ekaterina Dunzova, a journalist from the Tver region.
Candidates in Russia can run through political party nomination or self-nomination. According to Russia's electoral law, candidates nominated by five parties that have seats in the State Duma need to collect a large number of voter signatures in order to participate in the elections. Political parties that are not in the State Duma need to collect at least 100,000 signatures, and self-nominees must first form an initiative group of at least 500 people and collect at least 300,000 signatures. Currently, there are five parties in the Russian State Duma: the United Russia Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, the New People Party and the Just Russia - Patriots - For Truth party.
On October 31, 2023, Boris announced his candidacy through the Citizens' Initiative Party, which is not one of the five major parties in the Russian State Duma. Catherine announced her candidacy as an independent candidate on November 16 and plans to start collecting signatures.
Although Boris and Catherine announced their candidacy, it will take some time for them to become official candidates.
Candidate Boris:
A politician with a science and engineering background who advocated the restoration of European relations. Born in 1963, Boris spent his childhood in Soviet-era Uzbekistan and moved with his parents to Dolgoprudny in Moscow Oblast at the age of six. His father is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, his mother is an alumnus of the Moscow** Institute, and his grandfather was a well-known composer in Uzbekistan. In 1979, Boris won the second prize in the Mathematics Olympiad for High School Students. In 1985, he graduated with honors from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and worked as an engineer and researcher for the next five years. In 1999, he stepped onto the political scene and held the post of deputy in the Russian State Duma, which he held from 1999 to 2003.
Boris has repeatedly spoken out against Russia's special military operation against Ukraine, especially after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In addition, he called on Russia to rebuild relations with Europe and advocated the election of a new ** (in addition to Putin). In a Russian television program last year, Boris and another expert, Andrei Sidochik, had a heated argument on the issue of "whether Russia should take military action against Ukraine." At that time, Andrei blamed Boris for "working for Ukraine and bringing harm to the Motherland." Independent political analyst Abbas Galliamov noted in an interview that the image shown by Boris and other liberal politicians on television programs should be condemned and ridiculed.
Candidate Ekaterina:
A post-80s female journalist known for her crime problem. Born in 1983 in Rzhev, Tver Oblast, Russia, Catherine is a politician and independent journalist and a mother of three. In 2003, she started her career and worked for about a year at a television company in Rzhev. In the years that followed, she and her husband served as the editor-in-chief of the local independent electricity channel "RIT". She also studied at the Faculty of Law of Tver State University, where she obtained her diploma in 2008.
According to reports, Catherine is committed to reporting on local housing and communal service issues in the industry, as well as exposing local crimes. In 2014, she decided to run for the election of a deputy to the Rzhev City Duma and ran for the first time, which ended in defeat. However, in 2019, she was successfully elected to the city Duma. Then, in 2022, due to her opposition to the merger of regions, Catherine chose to resign as a parliamentarian on her own initiative.
Catherine advocated the cessation of the conflict on the Russian-Ukrainian issue. "This conflict will end sooner or later, and I look forward to an early end to it. She stressed and denied any ties to the Kremlin, the plutocrats or big business. In addition, she also refuted the claim of connection with the United States, "I have nothing to do with the US ** intelligence agency." I love my country dearly. ”