Over 30 candidates want to run for Russian President

“Of course, the election campaign will be competitive, because there will obviously be more than one candidate. In any case, there are more than 30 candidates now,” Pamfilova said in an interview with TASS news agency.

The CEC chief said candidates will now have time to organize events and party congresses.

“In my opinion, the level of competition depends not so much on the quantity but on the quality of candidates,” Pamfilova added.

The 2024 presidential election will be held over three days from March 15 to 17, according to the CEC. This will be the first time a presidential election has been held over multiple days. However, the “multi-day format” has been used in other elections in Russia after being first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The expanded format has proven popular with voters, allowing for higher turnout and less stress for local election commissions, Pamfilova explained. Keeping polls open for several days has become a “tradition” in the country, she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on December 8 that he plans to run for another term in the presidential election in March 2024. The Russian president said he had “different thoughts at different times” on the issue, but ultimately decided to run again.

According to observers, Russia still has no bright face that can compete with the current President Putin. Mr. Putin won the presidential election in 2000 with 53.0% of the vote, then this rate increased sharply in the 2004 election with 71.3% of the vote. After a one-term gap, Mr. Putin returned to the Kremlin thanks to a victory with 63.6% of the vote in the presidential election in 2012 and 76.7% in 2018.