Also on Saturday, Russian state media said that Yabloko party founder and leader Grigory Yavlinsky would not run for the presidency, citing the party’s press service. Speaking in a live interview on YouTube, once Duntsova’s appeal to Yabloko became known, Yavlinsky said that he “didn’t know” whether the party would consider her application.
Duntsova took her first steps toward candidate status on Sunday, when her run was endorsed by 500 supporters as required by Russian election law, and presented documents on Wednesday to Russia’s Central Election Commission to register her nomination.
A number of Russian parties also announced which candidates they would be backing in the presidential election next March, which incumbent President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win.
The Russian Communist Party, the second largest party in the lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, announced after a secret ballot that it would support the nomination of Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov. As party leader Sergei Mironov previously said it would do, the Just Russia – For Truth party formally announced that it was supporting Putin’s nomination for the presidency.
Parties represented in the Duma do put forward candidates to run against Putin, but they represent only token opposition and are generally sympathetic to his agenda.
The Civic Initiative party, which is not represented in the Duma, is expected to back the nomination of independent candidate Boris Nadezhdin, who is known for campaigning against Russia’s actions in Ukraine. He has the support of a contingent of soldiers’ wives, unhappy with their husbands’ long deployments.
Source: CNA
