Russia is holding a presidential election Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win, barring an unexpected development.
The polling stations are to open across the country on March 15, and Russians will be able to vote until Sunday, March 17.
International analysts have already cast doubts on whether this election will be either free or fair, with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe confirming its election observers haven’t been invited to monitor the vote to ensure an “impartial and independent” assessment of the process.
On the other hand, Moscow has invited a delegation of Chinese observers to the presidential elections – a move raising eyebrows among international analysts and underscoring the growing alliance between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Russians are being given the choice between four candidates, although neither of the three men running against Putin are considered real challengers to the incumbent president.
Nikolai Kharitonov is the 75-year-old candidate put forward by the Communist Party. The Communist politician has been a member of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, since 1993, and already ran against Putin in 2004, when he obtained 13 percent of the vote.
Kharitonov has voiced his support for the illegal invasion of Ukraine – known in Russia as a “special military operation” – and has been placed under US, EU and UK sanctions after the start of the war.
He also advocates for ending Russia’s membership to the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund, accused of “undermining Russia’s economic sovereignty”.
When it comes to domestic policies, he advocates for moves favouring the elderly electorate, such as lowering the pension age and raising pensions.
His criticism of Putin has been non-existent during the electoral campaign, as he said: “He is responsible for his own cycle of work, why would I criticise him?”
In February, state pollster VTsiom said around 4 percent of Russians were ready to vote for him.
Leonid Slutsky, 56, is an anti-Western candidate who described the war in Ukraine as “noble and holy” and stated the main goal of his election programme is a “final and speedy victory”.
Slutsky is the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and joined the Russian delegation in the peace talks with Ukraine held in the spring of 2022, before the horror of the Bucha massacre emerged.
In 2018, Slutsky was accused of sexually harassing a group of female journalists. A Parliamentary commission exonerated him, and he described the allegations as a “provocation”.
In the same year, late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny accused the politician of owning luxury cars costing more than his official income and alleged his Mercedes-Maybach S500 violated hundreds of traffic rules in less than one year.
Sanctioned by the West in 2014 for supporting the illegal annexation of Crimean, he is polling at around 3 percent.
Vladislav Davankov, 40, is the deputy chairman of the Duma’s lower house and a member of the New People political party which his father helped set up in 2020.
Davankov is the most liberal-leaning candidate, as he has tried to position himself as someone who opposes excessive crackdown on personal freedom, advocates for the normalisation of relations with the West and wants to stop the “persecution for dissidents” and the “ideological censorship”.
He has also said to favour “peace and talks”, although he stated the end of fighting should come “on our terms and with no roll-back”. His party also initially opposed the recognition by Moscow of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk – although it ultimately voted in favour of it.
The youngest among the candidates, he stated he would not criticise his political opponents during the campaign.
Like the other candidates, he has been sanctioned by the West, which accused him of “violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Last month, the VTsiom pollster placed him at five percent.
