Moscow, Dec 17 (EFE).- The ruling United Russia party unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin’s candidacy on Sunday ahead of the March 2024 presidential poll.
“We do not have the slightest doubt about who should lead the Russian state in these tremendously complicated times — someone who embodies historical truth and justice and has the support of the majority,” stated United Russia leader Dmitry Medvedev after its congress.
After affirming that United Russia will make every effort to secure an “unequivocal” victory for Putin in the presidential elections, Medvedev urged the delegates to express their support through a show of hands.
“Decision approved unanimously,” Medvedev said after those attending the congress raised their hands in support of Putin.
Putin’s victory must be “legitimate and absolutely indisputable,” said Medvedev, calling for an end to all foreign interferences and any provocations that could destabilize the political situation during the electoral campaign.
Political scientists anticipate that Putin will receive “a level of support greater than 70 percent” on March 17, 2024, with some predicting that he may even surpass the 76.7 percent in 2018.
Putin thanked the ruling party for its support, saying it was very important for him.
“First of all, I would like to thank you for your consistent and strong support. It is very important for me,” he said at the party’s 21st congress.
The president said Russia required the “unity of all patriotic forces.”
Putin, 71, stressed Russia has to “be strong” and make all decisions “without outside advice from outside.”
“We must remember, never forget, and pass on to our children. Either Russia is self-sufficient, a sovereign power, or it will cease to exist. Russia cannot, like some countries, trade its sovereignty for sausage and become a satellite of someone,” he said.
He also dismissed the possibility that Western strategies for inciting popular revolutions, which led to changes in government in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, could be effective in Russia.
“We must be prepared for challenges that will grow like a snowball. But we are Russia, a winter country, right? We love snow,” he said.
A grassroots movement expressed support for Putin’s candidacy on Saturday, as he intends to run as an independent, as he did in the last elections.
Supporters of the Kremlin leader will now proceed to the Central Electoral Commission to register their initiative and initiate the process of collecting the 300,000 required signatures.
It remains unknown who will challenge the incumbent Kremlin head, although it is anticipated that the communists and ultranationalists may present their candidates.
According to recent official surveys, 80 percent of Russians approve of Putin’s leadership, who has been at the helm since 2000 with a four-year hiatus (2008–2012) as prime minister.
Despite an increasing desire for peace among Russians, Putin tempered those hopes in his first major press conference of the war this week.
The controversial constitutional reform of 2020 allows the current president to serve two additional terms of six years each, extending his potential rule until 2036.
Kremlin critics argue that the elections will function as a referendum on the ongoing war, where Russia has not achieved its objectives set in February 2022 and has, according to the West, suffered over 300,000 casualties. EFE
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