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Presidential candidates cannot be withdrawn from election - CEC chair

Candidates have the right to pull out of the election, in line with the CEC schedule, until March 16. Russia will elect president on March 18, 2018

MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) is unable to disqualify any presidential candidate from March 9, CEC Chair Ella Pamfilova said in a televised interview with NTV channel on Saturday.

"It was possible if one of the candidates had filed a lawsuit against their rivals by March 9. In this case, the court might have heard the case five days prior to the election," Pamfilova said.

"Today, it is unreal. All the eight candidates on the list are going to reach the finish line," she added.

Under the law ‘On Election of President of the Russian Federation’, a candidate’s registration might be canceled by the Supreme Court, following either the CEC’ request or a request from another registered candidate which is filed in advance, not later than five days prior to the election day.

Candidates have the right to pull out of the election, in line with the CEC schedule, until March 16. Russia will elect president on March 18, 2018.

Eight contenders are running for Russia’s presidency. Among them are incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will participate as an independent candidate, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and businessman Pavel Grudinin nominated by the CPRF. Other candidates include Yabloko party co-founder Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Party of Growth business ombudsman Boris Titov, head of the Russian People’s Union party and former Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Sergey Baburin, TV host Ksenia Sobchak (nominated by Civil Initiative) and head of the Communists of Russia Maxim Suraikin.