MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has accepted incumbent President Vladimir Putin’s nomination papers for the upcoming presidential vote set to take place on March 15-17, 2024.

Putin’s paperwork was accepted by CEC member Konstantin Mazurevsky and Olga Golovanova, chief of the CEC’s department for interaction with political parties and government agencies.

After the ceremony, the parties signed a protocol on the acceptance of the documents.

Putin plans to run for re-election as an independent candidate.

According to election law, an independent candidate must form a group of at least 500 supporters, which was done at a meeting on December 16. The package of papers required by the CEC includes an application for the group’s registration, which must contain the personal data of all members and the candidate, as well as a protocol of the meeting, a list of the group’s authorized representatives, the candidate’s declaration of consent to run in the election and a number of other documents.

After receiving approval from the commission, Putin must start collecting voter signatures in support of his nomination. At least 300,000 signatures must be presented to the CEC by January 31.

Putin’s nomination

An initiative group of voters held a meeting in the Zaryadye Hall in downtown Moscow on Saturday, bringing together over 750 people. The meeting’s participants unanimously supported Putin’s self-nomination in the presidential election. The country’s largest political party United Russia supported Putin’s nomination at a congress in Moscow on December 17.

The Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) set Russia’s presidential election for March 17, 2024. The CEC decided that the vote would take place over three days, from March 15-17, 2024. This will be the first three-day presidential election in Russian history.