RUSSIA SETS MARCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Lawmakers in Russia on Thursday set March 17 as the date for the country’s next presidential election, launching a race that few doubt will result in President Vladimir Putin’s reelection for another six-year term.
While the vote’s outcome is widely seen as a foregone conclusion in Russia, the campaign will take place under drastically different circumstances than the previous one in 2018.
It will be the first presidential election since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It also will be the first election since the passage of constitutional amendments in 2020 that allowed Putin, 71, to circumvent term limits. (Some constitutional lawyers and experts still debate the legality of the reset.)
The vote Thursday in the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, marked the formal start of the election campaign. Speaking before the vote, Valentina Matviyenko, the council’s speaker, gave a strong indication of who she thought would win.
“Our people will confidently make the only right choice by casting their votes for Russia, victory, and a future in a strong and sovereign country,” said Matviyenko, referring to the priorities stated by Putin, even if she didn’t mention him by name.
Putin is expected to announce his intention to run in the coming weeks, but some political parties rushed to endorse him Thursday before a formal declaration.
Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Just Russia party, one of five represented in the Russian parliament, said his group was endorsing Putin, as did Vladimir Shamanov, a deputy from the ruling United Russia party.
Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission, said the body would deliberate in the coming days about whether the vote would take place over a three-day period, instead of on one day — a more drawn out process that critics have said reduces transparency.
The commission will also discuss whether the vote will be conducted in the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia following the invasion, Pamfilova said.