Russians gear up for presidential vote

Approximately 65 percent of the 109 million eligible voters are expected to cast their ballots at 94,000 polling stations across the country on March 4.

Fifteen nominated candidates participated in the pre-election race, but only five have reached the final stage and been listed on the ballots.

Opinion polls suggest that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is set for an easy victory in the election.

“It is not enough to participate in this election. We need to look further. We need to attack a lot of challengers. We will win soon. But it’s not enough for us to win this election, we need to win and overcome a huge number of problems,” Putin has said.

According to the polls, Putin’s nearest challengers will be leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky and billionaire candidate Mikhail Prokhorov.

The other two challengers are leader of the Communist party Gennady Zyuganov and head of the center-left Fair Russia party Sergey Mironov.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is reportedly due to become prime minister under a prospective Putin presidency.

Putin’s presidency ended in 2008 after two consecutive terms because the Russian constitution prevented him from running a consecutive third term; however, he will be free to run again this year.

GMA/HJL/MA

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