Russian Presidential election

One of the reasons for Western dismay at the decision by the Chinese parliament earlier today to abolish the terms limits of the Chinese Presidency – paving the way for President Xi Jinping to remain Chinese President when his present term limit expires – is that it guarantees that the partnership between Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin which has been making the international political weather ever since Xi Jinping emerged as China’s President in 2013 is set to confinue.

Vladimir Putin has still not declared whether he intends to run in next year’s Russian Presidential election, but according to a recent poll by Russia’s Levada Centre, 64% of Russians want Putin to be President for another term. If Putin runs and wins in the 2018 election, he will remain in office until 2024, the same year Trump will leave office in the US should he seek and win another term in 2020.
Thus far, the only mainstream Russian politician who has officially declared his candidacy is LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) founder Vladimir Zhirinovsky.