Federation Council Prepares To Confirm March 17 As Presidential Election Date

United Russia Senator Andrey Klishas, chair of the upper house's Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction, wrote on his Telegram channel that his committee will consider a draft resolution setting the date of next year's Russian presidential election for March 17.

• The resolution will be considered by the Federation Council's Committee on Constitutional Legislation later today, before being submitted for a debate at a plenary session of the Federation Council on Thursday.
• The adoption of the resolution will be a formality, with the first round of the election tentatively scheduled for March 15-17 at last month's meeting between Kremlin officials, regional deputy governors and heads of regional election commissions.
• The formal announcement of the election date by the Federation Council would pave the way for the start of the election campaign, with President Vladimir Putin expected to confirm that he will run for another six-year term.
• The administration is reportedly aiming to engineer a "70% plus" turnout and "75% plus" support for the "main candidate", with the Kremlin focusing on boosting participation and maintaining relative legitimacy of the polls.