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The Presidential Minimum
In number of candidates, the current presidential campaign will be probably the most modest from 1996. Yesterday was the last day when Central Election Commission accepted documents of self-nomination candidates. The parties’ candidates are no secret as well.
Under the RF President Election Act, a candidate, who nominates himself, is to be put forward by an initiative meeting of 500. The Central Election Commission has registered two candidates – People’s Democratic Union leader Mikhail Kasyanov and DPR leader Andrei Bogdanov. Kasyanov and Bogdanov may proceed to collecting 2 million signatures in their support and launch the agitation campaign (not in mass media though).
The Commission has accepted documents of two more candidates – Oleg Shenin (KPSS) and dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. The documents of a few other candidates were submitted yesterday, but the Commission has no proofs that the initiative meetings were held in line with the law.
Central Election Commission will give the final answer to candidates no later than on December 22. The authority has a few questions to Shenin (insufficient data on the place of employment) and Bukovsky (double citizenship).
The parties have five more days to put forward their candidates. But the names are no secret already. Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR), Gennady Zyuganov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) personally brought the documents for registration yesterday. Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is the candidate of four parties, including the ruling United Russia, and most favored candidate of President Putin.
Medvedev, Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky were nominated by State Duma parties and, therefore, won’t have to collect signatures, unlike Boris Nemtsov (the Union of Right Forces (SPS)), who is yet to amass the required number.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 19, 2007
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