“Needs support in war”
First party renounces opposition candidates for Putin
May 20, 2023 at 8:37 p.m
A change in the constitution will make it possible for Putin to remain president of Russia in the coming legislative periods, provided he is re-elected. The chances are now increasing months before the election. One party wants to forgo its own candidate in favor of Putin.
Just Russia is the first Russian party to nominate Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin for re-election. At a party conference, leader Sergey Mironov announced that his party would not have its own candidate in the presidential election in March 2024 and would support Putin. In view of the war in Ukraine, the 70-year-old needs the “support of the whole people”. The Fair Russia party is represented in Parliament.
So far, Putin, who has been in power for more than 20 years, has not yet officially declared his candidacy. However, most observers assume that he will compete again. There are no other applicants in sight. The Kremlin party United Russia and the other parliamentary parties have not yet commented. Mironow had already contested presidential elections himself – but without a chance.
During a visit to Russia in March, China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping expressed confidence that Putin would emerge victorious from the election. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, on the other hand, has repeatedly emphasized that Putin has not yet communicated his decision. The election is expected for March 17 next year.
After a constitutional amendment in 2021, the previous terms of office of Vladimir Putin, who was elected president for the first time in 2000, will no longer be counted. This means that the 71-year-old can run again in 2024 and theoretically also in the 2030 elections. Observers have cited Putin’s falling popularity ratings in Russia as one reason for the start of the war against Ukraine. In 2014, the Kremlin chief was able to spark national euphoria with the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which also favored his re-election in 2018.