MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Businessman Pavel Grudinin, nominated to run for Russian president by the Communist Party, has submitted the documents required for registration to the Central Election Commission (CEC), CEC member Yevgeny Shevchenko told reporters.
"The Communist Party’s authorized representatives have brought to the CEC the documents required for Grudinin’s registration as a presidential candidate," he said.
In late December, Grudinin submitted his nomination documents to the CEC and was allowed to open a campaign account. In order to be registered as candidates, those nominated by parliamentary parties must provide their first financial report to the CEC, as well as a photograph and a document confirming that they have no bank accounts or assets abroad. Candidates nominated by non-parliamentary parties must collect at least 100,000 voter signatures in their support in order to be registered as presidential contenders, while independent candidates need to gather at least 300,000. At the same time, those nominated by parliamentary parties do not have to gather voter signatures.
The Russian Communist Party nominated Grudinin, the director of the Lenin Farm outside Moscow, to run for president at the party congress held on December 23. This is the second time the party nominates someone else rather than its leader Gennady Zyuganov. He stood in all presidential elections except for the one held in 2004, when the Communist Party nominated Nikolai Kharitonov. However, a thing to note is that Grudinin is not a member of any political party.
Zyuganov will lead his campaign team named the Supreme Council of the Popular and Patriotic Forces.
Only one candidate, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has completed the registration process so far. According to the CEC, 13 candidates, including the incumbent head of state Vladimir Putin, have opened campaign accounts and are collecting voter signatures, while documents submitted by several other candidates are under consideration. Registration papers and voter signatures may be submitted to the CEC until 18:00 on January 31.
The Russian presidential election is scheduled to be held on March 18.