MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. The Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation has completed its registration of candidates for the upcoming presidential election, eventually clearing four people for the upcoming presidential race.

For the first time since 2008, there will only be four options in the ballot - Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Vladislav Davankov of New People, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) and incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is running for a fifth term as an independent.

The nomination period for party candidates was between December 8 and January 1, while for self-designated candidates it ended on December 27. On December 28, Russian Central Election Commission Chair Ella Pamfilova said a total of 33 people, including nine contenders from parties and 24 independent contenders, planned to run for Russian presidency next year. Only 15 of them eventually submitted the documents required to be registered as candidates.

When the deadline for filing documents expired on January 1, only 11 candidates remained in the race: three self-nominated candidates - the incumbent, President Vladimir Putin, bloggers Rada Russkikh and Anatoly Batashev, and eight candidates from political parties - Leonid Slutsky (LDPR), Nikolai Kharitonov (KPRF), Vladislav Davankov (New People), Sergey Baburin (Russian People's Union), Andrey Bogdanov (Russian Party of Freedom and Justice), Boris Nadezhdin (Civic Initiative), Sergey Malinkovich (Communists of Russia), and Irina Sviridova (Democratic Party of Russia).

Slutsky and Davankov became the first registered candidates on January 9. Kharitonov joined them on January 9. All of them are members of parties represented in the Russian parliament’s lower chamber - CPRF, LDPR, and New People - and therefore did not have to collect signatures.

Other candidates began submitting collected signatures and registration documents after January 22, with the deadline being January 31. By that time, self-nominated candidates were expected to present 300,000 signatures in their support, while nominees from out of parliament parties - 100,000 signatures.

Putin, whose campaign activists gathered over 3.5 million signatures in support, received the candidate status on January 29. His campaign team handed 315,000 signatures over to the Central Election Commission on January 22. Out of the 60,000 signatures selected for a check, only 0.15% were deemed invalid.

Before the January 31 deadline expired, three candidates - Baburin, Sviridova and Bogdanov - withdrew from the race.

On February 8, the CEC declined to register presidential hopeful Sergey Malinkovich of the Communists of Russia party and Boris Nadezhdin of the Civic Initiative party, citing a high percentage of invalid signatures submitted in their support. The percentage was above the permissible 5% (14.9% for Malinkovich and 15.2% for Nadezhdin). After being denied a spot on the ballot, Nadezhdin announced his intention to appeal this decision to Russia’s Supreme Court.

Additionally, self-nominated bloggers Rada Russkikh and Anatoly Batashev were denied the right to run because they failed to collect the required number of signatories and lacked certain documents.

About the candidates

Davankov, 39, became the first presidential candidate from the New People party. He has been its member since 2020 and currently holds the position of State Duma (lower parliament chamber) deputy speaker and first deputy chairman of the New Party faction. He participated in the 2023 election for the mayor of Moscow and finished fourth, gathering 5.34% of the vote.

Putin, 71, is the incumbent president of Russia. It will be his fifth presidential election, following the polls in 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2018. He showed his best result in 2018, receiving 76.69% of the vote.

Slutsky, 56, has led the LDPR party since May 2022. He is the chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee and became the third presidential candidate in his party’s history. Earlier, the party nominated its founder Vladimir Zhirinovsky (in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018) and Oleg Malyshkin (2004).

Kharitonov, 75, has been a member of all eight convocations of the Russian State Duma. It will be his second presidential election. 20 years ago, he came second in the presidential race, securing 13.69% of the vote. Earlier, CPRF designated as presidential candidate its leader Gennady Zyuganov (1996, 2000, 2008 and 2012) and Pavel Grudinin (2018).