page_title: 2018 Russian presidential election
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 2018 Russian presidential election / Background
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Логотип президентских выборов в России 2018 года English: Logo of 2018 Russian presidential election Suomi: Venäjän presidentinvaalien 2018 logo.
context_page_description: The 2018 Russian presidential election was held on 18 March 2018. Incumbent Vladimir Putin won reelection for his second consecutive term in office with 77% of the vote. Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party was the perennial candidate, having unsuccessfully run in five previous presidential elections. Other candidates included Pavel Grudinin, Sergey Baburin, Ksenia Sobchak, Maxim Suraykin, Boris Titov and Grigory Yavlinsky. Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny announced his intent to run in December 2016 but was barred from doing so due to a prior criminal conviction, which may have been politically motivated, for corruption. Consequently, Navalny called for a boycott of the election. He had previously organized several public rallies against corruption among members of Putin's government.
  The incumbent Vladimir Putin was eligible to run. He declared his intent to do so on 6 December 2017, being widely expected to win.
context_section_description: The President of Russia is directly elected for a term of six years, since being extended from four years in 2008 during Dmitry Medvedev's administration. According to Article 81 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, a candidate for president must be at least 35 years old, hold no dual nationality, have permanently resided in Russia for the past 10 years, and cannot serve more than two terms consecutively. Parties with representation in the State Duma are able to nominate a candidate to run for the office while candidates from officially registered parties that are not in parliament have to collect at least 100,000 signatures. Independent candidates have to collect at least 300,000 signatures with no more than 7,500 from each federal subject of Russia and also from action groups made up of at least 500 people. The nomination process took place during Russia's winter holiday period, and 31 January 2018 was the last day for submitting signatures in support of contested access candidates.
caption: Election logo
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