LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky will be nominated as a candidate to participate in the presidential elections in March 2018. According to Igor Lebedev, the deputy chairman of the State Duma from the LDPR, this decision was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the party's supreme council and the presidium of its faction in the State Duma on November 20. "On Tuesday, we announced our participation in the campaign, as do many other candidates. Legally, we can nominate a candidate only by the congress, it will be held after the Federation Council announces the date of the election. While the congress is scheduled for December 20, "Lebedev told Vedomosti. According to him, there were no alternative candidates for the party and Zhirinovsky expects "to be the first after God".
In early November it became known that Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, too, may participate in the presidential race. "Four [the leader of the" Fair Russia "Sergei] Mironov, Zyuganov, Zhirinovsky and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin are like two and two four, and all the others have to collect signatures for participation, which is impossible in our country," Lebedev believes. He compares presidential elections with the Olympics, where the main thing is not so much to win as to participate: "In the personal rating Zhirinovsky is ahead of Zyuganov, which is likely to continue in March."
"The plans of the Communist Party have never depended on Zhirinovsky, so we have everything, as planned: a congress can legally nominate a candidate, he will be held on December 22-23," said Yury Afonin, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee Presidium. The CPRF has one competitor and is a candidate from United Russia, the Communist recalled.
The LDPR leader will participate in the presidential race for the sixth time. Previously, his candidacy was included in the ballots in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2012. In his first election, Zhirinovsky took third place, receiving 7.8% of the vote, but he managed to repeat this success only once - in 2008, when he showed an absolutely best result for himself (9.35%) and conceded only to Dmitry Medvedev and Zyuganov .
The election campaign will officially start between December 7 and 17, after the election date is set by the Federation Council. Earlier, the founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the Communist Party of Russia Maxim Suraykin, the oppositionist Alexei Navalny, one of the creators of the Nashi movement Boris Yakemenko, the political scientist Andrei Bogdanov, and others announced the desire to run for the 2018 elections. About the possible participation In the elections with the slogan "Against all", TV host Ksenia Sobchak also announced that on November 15 it became known that her party could be nominated by the party "Civic Initiative". On October 17, the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission Ella Pamfilova stated that Navalny, who started an active election campaign a year ago, will be able to run for president not earlier than 2028 because of outstanding conviction. "Whole life ahead. So let it come from this. And a flag in his hands! "- she said.
Putin has not yet said anything about his possible nomination for the fourth presidential term. "The time will come, and we will talk about this," he said at a press conference on the results of the APEC summit in Vietnam.