Putin to run for 5th Presidential Term in March Election in Russia
“I believe there is no other option,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed he will run in presidential elections slated to be held in March of next year. Mr. Putin, who made the announcement at an award ceremony for veterans of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, will be seeking a fifth term as Russia’s leader.
“I have had different thoughts at different times, but now it’s time to make a decision,” he said, answering a question posed by a decorated combat veteran. “I believe there is no other option,” he added in comments broadcast on national television. “That’s why I plan to run for the position of president,” Mr. Putin confirmed at the military ceremony, held at the Kremlin’s Georgievsky Hall on Dec. 8.
A victory in the upcoming poll would allow the longstanding leader, who first became president in 1999, to remain in power until 2030.
Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) voted to hold the election on March 17 of next year. “With this decision, the electoral cycle has effectively begun,” Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko said after the motion was adopted unanimously. According to the Federation Council, which is responsible for setting election dates, the winner of the upcoming poll will be formally inaugurated in May.
Mr. Putin, who is 71 years old, was first appointed acting president by Boris Yeltsin on the final day of 1999. Mr. Yeltsin, the country’s first post-Soviet leader, served as Russia’s president from 1991 to 1999, when he appointed Mr. Putin as his successor. In 2000, Mr. Putin won a presidential election with 53 percent of the vote. He handily won a 2004 reelection bid with 71 percent of all votes cast. Dmitry Medvedev then assumed the presidency after winning a 2008 presidential poll, while Mr. Putin assumed the post of prime minister.
A close Putin ally, Mr. Medvedev currently serves as the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council. Mr. Putin returned to the presidency in 2012 after winning almost 64 percent of the vote. The next election was held in 2018 after a constitutional amendment extended the length of the president’s term from four to six years. Mr. Putin also won that election—beating out seven other candidates—with almost 77 percent of the vote. According to official sources, total voter turnout stood at 67.5 percent.
Following the 2018 poll, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s human rights mission stated that candidates had been able to “campaign freely.” Nevertheless, it added, “the extensive and uncritical coverage of the incumbent [Mr. Putin] in most media resulted in an uneven playing field”.
