MOSCOW, January 31 It is most likely that four currently registered candidates will reach voting day in the Russian presidential election — self-nominated Vladimir Putin, as well as candidates from parliamentary parties Leonid Slutsky, Nikolai Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov, but the leader of the Communists of Russia, Sergei Malinkovich, also has a chance to get on the ballot. thanks to the regional party network, according to the experts interviewed.
“We already have four: three representatives of parliamentary parties and Vladimir Putin, second-hand from United Russia and A Just Russia. Honestly, I think the most likely scenario is that these four will remain,” the president of the communications holding shared his opinion «Minchenko Consulting» Evgeniy Minchenko.
At the same time, he believes that hypothetically the leader of the “Communists of Russia” Malinkovich could also be registered as a candidate.
“Given the fact that the Communists of Russia have their own regional network, this is a real party that constantly participates in elections with its activists. It is probably realistic that they could also collect signatures,” Minchenko noted.
A similar opinion was expressed by political scientist Vasily Zorin.
«In any case, we understand that there will be representatives of parliamentary parties on the ballot and, in addition to the candidate from the Communists of Russia, there may be at most one more candidate,» he said.
The expert did not rule out that the sixth registered candidate could be one of the self-nominated candidates, but noted that this would depend on how seriously they took the process of collecting signatures.
«This procedure requires the involvement of specialists, lawyers. And, of course, it is wrong to count on the fact that all the nominated candidates will be able to collect signatures,» Zorin emphasized. 
December 30, 2023, 11:25 InfographicsRussian presidential elections: stages of the election campaignView
However, he noted that for many public and political figures, the very opportunity to announce their nomination and the procedure for collecting signatures was something like an attempt to declare themselves as about some significant figure.
“Everyone’s goal setting is different, some may have purely commercial interests, others may have some political interests, but they are not fully understood,” Zorin added.
The Federation Council has scheduled presidential elections for March 17, 2024. Voting will last three days: March 15, 16 and 17. At the moment, 9 people are vying for the post of head of state. The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has registered four presidential candidates — Leonid Slutsky, Nikolai Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov and Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, two candidate candidates — chairman of the Russian All-People's Union party Sergei Baburin and Irina Sviridova, nominated by the Democratic Party of Russia, refused further participation in the election race.