MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov will be nominated by the party he leads a presidential candidate for the election due in 2018, press service of the Party of Growth told TASS on Sunday after the party’s meeting.
"The Party’s federal political council suggests nominating Boris Titov a presidential candidate," the press service said. "The congress will receive a respective recommendation."
The Party has nominated four candidates to run for the presidency, in order to organize primeries. They are the Party’s federal Secretary Alexander Khurudzhi, head of the party’s faction at the legislative in St. Petersburg Oksana Dmitriyeva, Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev and a businessman Dmitry Potapenko. Titov earlier said the Party of Growth considers among others the variant to support the current President Vladimir Putin, if he participates in the election.
Russia’s 2018 presidential election
Russia’s presidential election is due in March 2018. The election campaign will begin officially on a yet-to-be determined date between December 7 and 17. The Central Election Commission has said more than once that as long as the election campaign has not begun, no actions by those declaring their intention to contest the presidency can fall under election laws. To be registered as a candidate a presidential hopeful from a parliamentary party does not have to launch a sign-up campaign. A candidate from an out-of-parliament party is expected to present 100,000 signatures, and a self-nominee, 300,000.
By now presidential ambitions have been announced by LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Communists of Russia party Maksim Suraikin, business tycoon Sergey Polonsky, singer and journalist Yekaterina Gordon, and blogger Aleksey Navalny. CEC chief Ella Pamfilova has repeatedly explained that Navalny has no chances of being registered a presidential candidate in the forthcoming election due to an unspent conviction. The leaders of some non-governmental organizations, too, have declared their intention to run for president.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Gennady Zyuganov, has repeatedly stated that his party would conduct its election campaign as a team and its candidate would be announced at the party congress in late December. The United Russia and A Just Russia parties have said nothing about their participation in the election campaign, yet.
The incumbent, Vladimir Putin, has made no statements yet, either, about his participation or non-participation in the election of the head of state in 2018.