Should President Vladmir Putin be worried in the next year elections? Yesterday, more than 15,000 endorsed the Presidency aspiration of Alexei Navalny, a strongman opposing President Putin presidency.
People were reported to have met from across 20 cities, stretching from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg in the northwest to rally their supports for Alexei in the presence of electoral officials. According to the law in Russia, an independent candidate only needs 500 votes to get registered with the election authorities, but Alexei gets an estimated people about15,000.
In the nation's capital, Moscow alone, Alexei got 700 people that endorsed his candidacy.
Responding to the turnout of voters in the election, Alexei said; "I am hugely happy, I am proud to tell you that I stand here as a candidate of the entire Russia. We are ready to win and we will win these election"
Alexei Nivalny plans to submit his nomination to the Central Election Commission, with two of the members from the CEC witnessing the massive turnout of voters in Moscow.
Authorities have been sceptical about Alexei nomination due to a criminal conviction, but he has responded that the conviction was politically motivated. He has also said he will protest the banning of his name in court if it does not appear on the ballot, and had also called on his supporters not to vote at all if his name is not on the ballot.
President Putin is also looking to run for the fourth presidential term in office. This will allow him to rule Russia till 2024, and will also be the longest-serving president of Russia, more than Joseph Stalin, the former Russia dictator.