Putin, who is running as an independent candidate, has to collect a total of 300,000 signatures, but not less than 7,500 signatures from each of the country’s 80+ regions, a mandatory requirement for candidates that are not supported by the Russian political parties represented in the national legislature. The signatures have to be submitted not later than 30 January 2018 and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the official agency overseeing the election processes in the country, has to verify the authenticity of the signatures before officially registering the contenders on the ballot ...