SEAToday.com, Lugansk-Russia's 2024 presidential election is scheduled for March 15–17, 2024. This is Russia's eighth presidential election since 1992. The preliminary findings are anticipated to be made public on March 19, with the final result on March 29.

However, if no candidate receives more than half the vote, there will be a second round on April 7, 2024, exactly three weeks later. The winner is expected to take office on May 7, 2024.

The Electorates

In this election, 112.3 million Russian citizens are eligible to vote. A further 1.9 million individuals worldwide, including 12,000 in Baikonur, a cosmodrome that Russia rents in Kazakhstan, are also eligible to vote.

This is also Russia's first use of multiple-day voting based on the 2020 referendum on constitutional reforms. It’s also the first presidential election to use online voting, available in 27 Russian regions and Crimea, which Moscow claimed from Ukraine 10 years ago.

The vote will also occur in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the four regions claimed after the full-scale military operation in 2022, even though Russian forces don’t fully control them.

In contrast to the 51.7% turnout in the 2021 parliamentary election, Russia saw 67.5% of voters participate in the 2018 presidential election. In certain areas, early voting has already ended before the primary days. Those serving in the Russian military in Ukraine have also had early voting rights.

Russian voters are being urged to cast ballots by patriotic posters that are hung throughout the nation. The election posters feature the phrase "Together, we are strong" along with a "V" sign that resembles the one used by Russian troops in Ukraine.

Additionally, the government will host entertainment and giveaways to entice voters—many of whom are disenchanted with politics, especially young people—to cast their ballots.

Constitution Amendment

According to the original constitution, a Russian president could only hold office for two consecutive four-year terms. However, changes in 2008 increased the presidential term to six years. Changes in 2020 later formally reset President Vladimir Putin's presidential term tally to zero from 2024, potentially letting him stay in office until 2036.

As per the provisions of Article 81, Clause 3, of the Russian Constitution, an individual was not permitted to serve as President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms in a row prior to the 2020 constitutional amendment. As a result, Vladimir Putin was able to win the presidency in 2012 for a third term that did not follow his previous two terms.

The latest constitutional amendment established a hard limit of two terms. However, terms completed before the amendment are not taken into account, allowing Vladimir Putin to run for president twice more.

The Contenders

Putin, 71, is running as an independent and hopes to serve a fifth term in office, extending his tenure by six years. After he successfully pushed through constitutional amendments to reset his term limits in 2020, he will then be qualified to seek another term.

The Kremlin-aligned political groups with representatives in parliament, namely the Communist Party's Nikolai Kharitonov, the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party's Leonid Slutsky, and the New People Party's Vladislav Davankov, nominated other candidates for the ballot. In 2004, Kharitonov faced off against Putin and came in a distant second. (ALVIN QOBULSYAH)