Dmitry Medvedev (right) with Sergey Sobyanin (center) and Vladislav Surkov
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Medvedev Fated to Win
First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will register his candidacy for president with the Central Elections Commission today, allowing him to begin his election campaign in earnest. Medvedev will be introduced at the commission by secretary of the general council of the United Russia Party Vyacheslav Volodin. Medvedev will remain in office as first deputy prime minister during the campaign, which means that he must take care to keep his campaign and administrative activities separate.
Medvedev will not take a vacation before the presidential election, but his campaign manager, Chief of the Presidential Executive Staff Sergey Sobyanin, will. Sobyanin will be replaced as Kremlin chief by one of his deputies, Vladislav Surkov or Igor Sechin, and most likely Surkov.
Polls show Medvedev in a secure position. The Public Opinion Foundation found that 50 percent of those polled at the end of last year were prepared to vote for him. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (Russian abbreviation VTsIOM) data show 60 percent of Russians for Medvedev's presidency, up from 36 percent in the middle of last year. The Levada Center found that 79 percent of Russians who had firmly decided whom they would vote for had chosen Medvedev. When current Russian President Vladimir Putin was added to the list of choices, 24 percent of respondents chose him, and 55 percent Medvedev.
Various polls showed that LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky had 7-9 percent support, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov 6-7 percent, People for Democracy and Justice leader Mikhail Kasyanov 1-2 percent and Democratic Party of Russia candidate Andrey Bogdanov less than 1 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 21, 2008
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