Russian presidential election, 2017 (Joan of What?)

A presidential election will take place in on Saturday, 18 February 2017 to elect the next. It will be the 19th sexennial Russian presidential election.

The president and vice president will be elected through a direct popular vote, with a simple majority required for a candidate to win. Incumbent president is eligible for re-election, as there are no constitutional limits set on the number of terms he may serve. However, should a different person win the election, he or she would become the 17th President of Russia. Their running mate would become the 16th Vice President.

All major parties' executive committees confirmed their candidates for the presidency by the due date on 4 January 2017. The main presidential campaigns will begin on 4 February 2017, as Russian law limits the length of the campaign period to two weeks prior to the election.

Incumbent president Dmitry Medvedev became the 's presidential nominee on 10 December 2016, defeating his sole competitor of Moscow. Current Vice President was confirmed as Medvedev's running mate on 12 December. Gennady Zyuganov, currently a Deputy of the, was chosen as the 's nominee on 23 December 2016, defeating Mayor of Novosibirsk Anatoly Lokot and fellow Deputy Yury Afonin, who became Zyuganov's running mate on 28 December. If elected, Zyuganov will become the first president of the New Socialist Party.

Various third party and independent presidential candidates are also running in the election. The has enough seats in the State Duma to gain access to the presidential election, and has nominated former Advisor to the Mayor of Balashikha Anatoly Batashev for the presidency. The have nominated. A number of independent candidates have also registered their nomination for the presidency, and were able to do so despite having no representation in the State Duma by gathering at least 200,000 signatures. No third party or independent candidate has won more than 5% of the vote in Russian history.