Campaign begins for
Russia's presidential election
MOSCOW, Dec 18, 2017 (AFP) - Campaigning officially started on Monday for
Russia's presidential election in March, in which President Vladimir Putin is
widely expected to win a fourth term that would keep him in power until 2024.
Russian
government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta published a resolution adopted by the
upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, scheduling the election for
March 18.
Lawmakers
had voted earlier to change the date of the March vote so that it will mark the
fourth anniversary of the signing of a treaty formally annexing Ukraine's
Crimea peninsula.
The
treaty came two days after a controversial referendum deemed illegal by the
West.
Putin,
who was first elected to the presidency in 2000, is widely expected to sail to
victory, cementing his status as Russia's longest-serving ruler since dictator
Joseph Stalin.
Putin's
top critic Alexei Navalny, 41, has been barred from putting his name on the
ballot because of a criminal conviction, which he says is politically
motivated.
The
head of Russia's Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said she was
ready to hold the vote "at the right level".
"We
will control (the election) during all the stages," she said at a news
conference, adding that the commission had been allocated more than $298
million for the presidential vote.
-
Funds to 'cheat you' -
Writing
on Twitter, Navalny, whose name Putin refuses to say publicly, told Russians
the funds would be spent "to cheat you".
Navalny,
who has been campaigning in far-flung Russian regions over the past year, has
called on his supporters to take part in a protest on Sunday "for free
elections".
He
has threatened to call for a boycott of the elections if he is not allowed to
take part.
Formerly
a human rights ombudsman, Pamfilova was appointed the country's top election
chief in March 2016 to replace the scandal-tainted official who oversaw the
2011 parliamentary election, which prompted mass protests over claims of vote
rigging, the biggest challenge to Putin in his 18 years in power.
During
the September 2016 parliamentary vote, the opposition accused Pamfilova of
ignoring violations even when they were caught on camera.
Putin
will run against a motley crew of opposition candidates, though even the
Kremlin has acknowledged that none of them stand a chance against Putin.
"There
are other candidates but Putin, of course, has the most chances," his
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this month.
"The
level of support from the people that he has is inaccessible to other
candidates."
One
of the potential candidates is Ksenia Sobchak, a former socialite turned
liberal TV presenter.
But
many people suspect that she is running as a Kremlin "spoiler"
candidate to split the opposition while bolstering interest in the election.
Gennady
Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, respectively the longtime leaders of
Russia's Communist Party and ultraconservative LDPR, who are tolerated by the
Kremlin and sit in parliament's lower house, the State Duma, have both
indicated a desire to run.
Last
week, Pamfilova said that 23 people had expressed their wish to run for the
presidency, and that the number of candidates could grow.
But
analysts say that with the result of the election a foregone conclusion,
turnout could be low.
According
to a study released last week by Levada, an independent pollster, 58 percent of
Russians said they would vote in March, down from 75 percent in December 2007.
During
his annual year-end news conference last week, Putin said he would stand for
election as an independent candidate rather than with the backing of the ruling
party, United Russia.
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