MOSCOW, December 23 Communists at their election campaign At the congress in Snegiri near Moscow, a candidate for the election of the President of the Russian Federation was officially nominated, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation maintained intrigue for a long time, party leader Gennady Zyuganov named various candidates as worthy, the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation supported the candidacy of State Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov, but the final secret vote will take place on Saturday.
Russian presidential elections are scheduled for March 17, 2024. Nomination of candidates from parties takes place from December 7 to January 1, self-nomination — until December 27.
United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party have already held their congresses and nominated candidates: the current President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky.
The congress of “A Just Russia — For Truth” will also be held on December 23. Party leader Sergei Mironov has previously repeatedly stated that the Social Revolutionaries will support Putin’s candidacy at it.
The New People party congress will take place on December 24; party members are keeping their candidate a secret for now.
Many worthy leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were previously repeatedly asked about his intention to participate in the presidential race, to which he always replied that the candidate would be determined by the congress.
Zyuganov also emphasized that the party had many worthy candidates for the role of candidate, and named a number of names, including State Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov, Oryol region governor Andrei Klychkov, and State Duma deputy Yuri Afonin.
The Moscow branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation recommended earlier that Zyuganov and State Duma deputy Sergei Levchenko be nominated for the presidential elections in the Russian Federation.
The support of the party's Central Committee presidium for Kharitonov's candidacy became known this week. Kharitonov himself then said that so far there were only “talks,” and the final decision on the candidate would be announced at the congress.
Zyuganov, when asked to comment on the information about supporting Kharitonov’s candidacy, said that this would be decided by the plenum of the Communist Party behind closed doors on the eve of the congress.
Plenum supported Earlier, State Duma deputy Irina Filatova reported that the personnel commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation supported Kharitonov's candidacy to participate in the elections for the post of president of the country, «as a people's candidate, a courageous Soviet man, a deputy of the State Duma of all convocations.»
Also, the eighth plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation unanimously supported the nomination of Kharitonov at the congress, but the final secret vote will take place on Saturday.
Mood in the party ranks As a source in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation previously reported, many in the party were disappointed with the decision to nominate Kharitonov. At the same time, the agency’s interlocutor emphasized that there is no split in the party. However, according to him, many communists believe that there were more worthy candidates.
“At the same time, many still do not believe that this is the final decision, and hope that another name will be announced at the congress,” added the agency’s interlocutor.
Another source in the party, in turn, said that there had been no precedents in the history of the party for the replacement of a candidate recommended by the Presidium of the Central Committee during the plenum of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Who was the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation? From the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, party leader Gennady Zyuganov participated in the presidential race four times. He ran in 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2012 and finished second each time.
In the 1996 presidential elections, Zyuganov was closer to victory than ever. During the first round on June 16, 1996, Boris Yeltsin received 35.28% of the votes, his opponent Zyuganov — 32.03%. In the second round, Yeltsin, who began the campaign with a catastrophically low rating in the winter of 1996, won with 53.82% of the votes against Zyuganov’s 40.31%.
In 2004, Nikolai Kharitonov was a presidential candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; according to the election results, he took second place, gaining 13.69% of the votes.
In the 2018 elections, the communist candidate was the director of the Lenin state farm, Pavel Grudinin. He received 11.82% of the votes and took second place.