FACTBOX - Russia’s presidential election: What to know

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - As the war with Ukraine drags on, voters in Russia are heading to the polls on Friday for the country’s eighth presidential election.

Citizens will cast their ballots through Sunday to choose between four candidates for Russia’s next head of state.

Incumbent President Vladimir Putin is widely predicted to secure a fifth term in office. He is running as an independent, supported by the ruling United Russia party and the A Just Russia – For Truth party.

Vladislav Davankov, a deputy head of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, is the candidate for the New People party formed in 2020.

The other two contenders are Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and Communist Party candidate Nikolay Kharitonov, who heads the Russian parliament’s committee on developing the country’s Far Eastern and Arctic regions.

- What is different this time?

The 2024 presidential election is Russia’s first three-day election, with previous ones being single-day affairs.

Multi-day voting, however, was used before during the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum.

According to Russia’s Central Election Committee, about 112.3 million people are registered to vote in the election.

This includes people in the four Ukrainian regions Russia illegally annexed on Sept. 30, 2022 – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.

Close to 1.9 million Russian voters will also be voting in the country’s foreign missions abroad.

While the election officially kicks off on Friday, early voting began on Feb. 25 for those residing in Russia’s remote areas, far from polling stations.

More than 200 international observers from 36 countries and five international organizations will be present during the election.

The organizations include the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​