MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered a group of voters created to support incumbent President Vladimir Putin’s nomination for re-election in the March 2024 presidential vote.

The CEC also authorized the opening of a special account at Sberbank for paying expenses incurred in gathering 300,000 voter signatures required for the candidate’s official registration, thus signaling the start of the process.

"The decision was made unanimously," CEC Chairperson Ella Pamfilova said.

All presidential hopefuls must open a special election account at Sberbank. Only after that are candidates entitled to begin the active phase of their election campaigns, collecting voter signatures and canvassing, because the making of signature lists and campaign materials, as well as other related activities, must be paid for from their designated electoral fund campaign chests. A candidate’s electoral fund in the presidential election must not exceed 400 mln rubles ($4.4 mln).

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. United Russia, the country’s largest political party, also endorsed Putin’s nomination at its congress in Moscow on December 17. The Federation Council (upper house of parliament) formally designated March 17, 2024 as the date of Russia’s presidential election. The CEC decided that the vote would take place over three days, on March 15-17, 2024, making it the first ever three-day presidential election in Russian history.