Baburin withdrew from the presidential elections

The chairman of the Russian All-People's Union party, Sergei Baburin, after submitting signatures to the Central Election Commission, refused to further participate in the election race, TASS and RIA Novosti reported. He called for support for the current Russian President Vladimir Putin in the March elections.

“In accordance with Article 44 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the election of the President of the Russian Federation, I withdraw my candidacy from the elections for the post of President of the Russian Federation,” Baburin emphasized after submitting the voter signatures he collected to the Central Election Commission. The politician called the decision to withdraw from the election race “perhaps the most difficult in life” and said that Russians and all political forces need to “unite around the candidacy of Vladimir Putin.”

Baburin noted that his party “made an official consolidated decision” to withdraw its candidate from the elections.

“It is impossible to fragment power at a difficult time for the Motherland in the context of confrontation with the West; there should be no division of patriotic forces. The Russian All-People's Union decided to support the national leader. Our support for any efforts of the Russian authorities to protect Russian civilization and the interests of the multinational people of Russia remains unshakable. The order to Putin from the “Russian All-People’s Union” is this: do not stop, complete the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine,” he added.

The Central Election Commission reported that they would not check the signatures submitted by Baburin due to the fact that the politician sent an application to the commission to withdraw from the elections.

Sergei Baburin was a State Duma deputy from 1994 to 2007 ; in the second and fourth convocations of the State Duma he served as vice speaker. The politician has headed the Russian All-People's Union since the founding of the party in 2011. In 2018, he participated in the presidential elections, was registered as a candidate and received 0.65% of the votes at the end of the campaign.

The Russian presidential elections will take place from March 15 to 17. On January 29, the Central Election Commission registered Vladimir Putin as a candidate; he will take part in the elections as a self-nominated candidate. The CEC also allowed Leonid Slutsky ( LDPR ), Nikolai Kharitonov ( Communist Party of the Russian Federation ), Vladislav Davankov (New People) to participate in the elections.