Russia’s electoral commission has registered two candidates to oppose President Vladimir Putin in the upcoming 2024 elections.
Liberal Democratic Party candidate Leonid Slutsky and New People’s Party candidate Vladislav Davankov were approved this week for the March election by an official.
Danankov currently serves as deputy chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower legislative chamber. Slutsky is the head of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee.
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Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev speaks during a plenary session of the State Duma in Moscow, Russia. (Getty Images)
Although they are ostensibly rivals for the country’s top executive position, analysts consider the nationalist Slutsky and the liberal Davankov to be merely a symbolic opposition.
Putin submitted his nomination papers to the Central Election Commission last month for the March 17 election, which he is expected to win. The former intelligence officer remains very popular in Russia.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video conference at the Moscow Kremlin. ((Photo by ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images))
His support increased with the start of the war against Ukraine and he currently has an 82% approval rating, according to Statista, a global data platform.
Putin has maintained a continuous positions such as president or prime minister since 1999. He has been president since 2012, and his previous term as president was from 2000 to 2008.
Not all individuals seeking to run against Putin have been cleared to run for office.
Russian politician Yekaterina Duntsova speaks to reporters after appealing to Russia’s Supreme Court a decision by the Central Election Commission that refused to accept her initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in submitted documents, in Moscow , Russia. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
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A former television journalist and critic of the Ukraine war has been disqualified from running against Putin in next year’s presidential election.
Yekaterina Duntsova, 40, an independent politician who wanted to run on a platform of ending the war with Ukraine, saw her candidacy application unanimously rejected by the country’s electoral commission on Saturday, which cited “numerous violations” in the documents that he had presented.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
