February 16, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Russian president Vladimir Putin’s anointed candidate will most likely replace him after next month’s election, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 62 per cent of respondents would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, down one point since early February.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Russian president Vladimir Putin’s anointed candidate will most likely replace him after next month’s election, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 62 per cent of respondents would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, down one point since early February.

Communist Party (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov is a distant second with eight per cent, followed by Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also with seven per cent, and independent candidate Andrei Bogdanov with one per cent.

Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, "I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row."

Russian voters renewed the State Duma in December 2007. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. Under the country’s recently implemented proportional representation system, only three other political organizations—the KPRF, the LDPR and A Just Russia—elected lawmakers to the lower house.

In December 2007, Putin endorsed Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as prime minister.

On Feb. 14, Putin said he will maintain a high level of influence over the country’s administration once he becomes prime minister, adding, "The president is the guarantor of the Constitution. He sets the main directions for internal and external policies. But the highest executive power in the country is the Russian government, led by the prime minister."

The presidential election in Russia is scheduled for Mar. 2.

Polling Data

If the presidential election were conducted this Sunday, which of these candidates would you vote for?

	Feb. 10	Feb. 3
Dmitry Medvedev	62%	63%
Gennady Zyuganov	8%	7%
Vladimir Zhirinovsky	7%	7%
Andrei Bogdanov	1%	1%
Other / Would not vote	22%	22%

Source: All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, 2008. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent.