Putin's Campaign is About Boxes Filled with Petitions Backing his Run in March Election

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin’s presidential campaign for the 2024 March election comprises of the boxes filled with the signed petition backing his bid. Putin, who hails from the dominant United Russia party, is running solely in the vote he is expected to win that would prolong his leadership to another six years.

The 71 year old has amended the Russian constitution at least twice before in order to clutch to the presidential power until his mid-80s. The Russian president amended the term limit in 2021 by signing a controversial bill that has opened the door for him to potentially remain in power until the year 2036. The bill was approved by both lower and the upper chambers of Russian parliament. 

Putin announced his re-election bid atveteran award ceremony 

The then election law in Russia prohibited the candidate from cementing the third consecutive six-year term. Putin intiated the change to the law in January 2020 despite that an independent Levada Center polls suggested that an estimated 41% Russians were opposed to the bill.

Russia’s president Putin announced his re-election bid for the March 17 presidential race earlier last year following a Kremlin award ceremony for the war veterans. In the footages of the ceremony the soldiers asked Putin to seek re-election. “I won't hide it from you – I had various thoughts about it over time, but now, you're right, it's necessary to make a decision,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin from the event. “I will run for president of the Russian Federation,” the Russian President added.

According to the pollster Levada Center, as many as 80% of the populace approves of Putin's performance as the President. A political analyst at the Free University of Riga, Latvia, told The Associated Press this year that Putin is "afraid to give up power.” “This conflict with Ukraine was necessary as a glue. He needed to consolidate his power,” commentator Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter, was reported saying.