Russian presidential elections… “Putin” faces 7 competitors

Russian voters will vote on Sunday to re-elect Vladimir Putin as president unless there is a big surprise, with seven veteran politicians and some young faces, candidates whose political agendas differ, but all of them share their slim chances for the current president.

A total of 109 million Russian voters vote for the next president at 94,000 polling stations. The winner must win more than half of the votes. If the candidates are unable to achieve that, they will go for a second round, three weeks after the results are announced.

The Russian elections are run by 8 candidates: Sergei Papurin of the People’s Union of Russia, Pavel Grodinin of the Russian Communist Party, Vladimir Girinovsky of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Putin, an independent candidate and current president of the country, the Liberian Social Initiative party, Maxim Suraykin of the Russian Communist Party, Boris Titov of the Growth Party, and Gregory Yavlinsky of the Yabloko Party.

Putin was elected first in 2000 after taking power from Boris Yeltsin six months before his term ended. Putin has spent four terms as prime minister, in compliance with the constitution, which allows only two terms for the president, but after Dmitry Medvedev Presidency In 2012, Russian MPs extended the term of office from four to six years, meaning that Putin could remain in power until 2024, when he would be 72 years old.

The following is a brief introduction of the most prominent candidates:

Boris Titov .. Putin’s rival

He is running for his party, a successful businessman in the field of grape growing, and is the closest candidate from the Kremlin, where he is a business rights commissioner for the Russian president.

The Titov electoral program is based on the provision of economic freedoms by reducing the economy’s dependence on the commodity sector, developing business and trade and encouraging competition in the market.

Maxim Suraykin: 10 Stalinist strikes against capitalism

A candidate for the “Russian Communists” party, holds a Phd in history, and has called his election program “10 Stalinist strikes against capitalism” and seeks a package of measures needed to “restore the socialist economy.

Suraykin is keen to nationalize major defense, oil and gas institutions in order to double the country’s budget and increase citizens’ salaries. In the latest poll, he received support from less than 1 percent of the citizens.

Xena Sobchak

She ran for the Russian presidential election from the Liberian Social Initiative party and is in the presidential race under the slogan “Candidate against All”. She is married to actor Maxime Vittorgan.

Xena was born in the late family of Anatoly Sobchak, a former mayor of Leningrad, in Petersburg, who worked for Vladimir Putin in the 1990s.

She graduated from the Institute of International Relations in Moscow in 2004 and received a master’s degree in political science, and then began her career with a large number of social and entertainment television programs.

She participated in the opposition demonstrations after the 2011 parliamentary elections and the 2012 presidential elections and became a member of the Russian opposition coordinating council, which ended in 2013.

Sobchak demands liberal changes in the country’s internal and external policies, reducing the influence of the Orthodox Church in society, abolishing the law prohibiting the promotion of sexual transitions, forging partnerships with the United States and Ukraine, pulling out Russian troops from Syria and releasing political prisoners.

Vladimir Girinovski

Russian politician Vladimir Girinovsky has broken the highest political record by running for president and has run unsuccessfully for six consecutive times since 1991.

Born in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan in 1946, Gerenovski graduated from the Institute of Oriental Languages in 1970, the Turkish Language Department.

In the 1970s, he studied law at Moscow University and have a degree in philosophy.

In 1973-1975, he was a member of the Committee for the Defense of Peace in the Soviet Union and in 1989 founded the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union as the first rival party of the ruling Communist Party at the time.

Girinovsky run for the presidential election five times in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2012, but failed to succeed.

Gregorian Yavlinsky

Gregory Yavlinsky was born in the Ukrainian city of Lvov in 1952 and graduated from the Plekhanov Institute of Economic Sciences.

Yavlinsky entered politics in 1990 when he was elected deputy prime minister and chairman of the State Economic Reform Commission.

Yavlinsky is known for his “500-day” economic program, a plan to move from the socialist economy to a market economy.

He was one of the founders of the Yabluku party in 1993 and ran for the presidency three times in 1996, 2000 and 2012.

Yavlinsky has been running for the fourth time and vowed to develop the country’s economy on the one hand and to step aside from “geopolitical adventures” on the other.

Vladimir Putin

An independent candidate, the current president of the country. If he wins the election, this will be his fourth presidential term.

Putin is seeking to pursue his current political approach, with increasing social expenditures, and expressed his desire to win the support of the broad social and political circles within the country.

During the latest poll, Putin received the support of about 70% of the respondents.

Putin was born October 7, 1952 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Leningrad in 1975, served in the State Security Service and worked in the East German Republic from 1985 to 1990.

He served as assistant to the president of the Leningrad University of Foreign Affairs since 1990, then became an adviser to the head of the Leningrad City Council.

He served as chairman of the external communications committee of the St. Petersburg municipality (former Leningrad) since June 1991. At the same time, he served as the first deputy prime minister of St. Petersburg since 1994.

Since August 1997, he became the first deputy director of the Russian President’s Office. In July 1998, he was appointed Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. , And served as Secretary of the Security Council in the Russian Federation since March 1999, and in August 1999 became President of the Government of the Russian Federation, with the selection of President Boris Yeltsin.

He was elected on 26 March 2000 as President of the Russian Federation. He took office on May 7, 2000, was re-elected to the presidency on March 14, 2004, and served as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation under President Dmitry Medvedev between 2008-2012, before being re-elected for a third term.