2024 Russian presidential election

2024 Russian presidential election

15–17 March 2024
Registered	114,212,734
Turnout	74.22% (6.70pp)
Reporting	100% as of 07:10 MSK
Nominee Vladimir Putin Nikolay Kharitonov Party Independent CPRF Alliance ONF Popular vote 73,793,568 3,643,809 Percentage 87.34% 4.31%   File:Даванков (cropped).jpg Nominee Vladislav Davankov Leonid Slutsky Party New People LDPR Alliance SPPS Popular vote 3,202,002 2,696,002 Percentage 3.79% 3.19%
President before election Vladimir Putin Independent President after election Vladimir Putin Independent

Election logo

A presidential election in Russia was held from 15 to 17 March 2024. This was the eighth presidential election in the country. The winner is scheduled to be inaugurated on 7 May 2024.

In November 2023, former member of the State Duma Boris Nadezhdin became the first person backed by a registered political party to announce his candidacy, running on an anti-war platform. He was followed by incumbent and independent candidate Vladimir Putin in December 2023, who is eligible to seek re-election as a result of the 2020 constitutional amendments. Later the same month, Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party and Vladislav Davankov of New People announced their candidacies.

Other candidates also declared their candidacy but were barred for various reasons. Despite passing the initial stages of the process, on 8 February 2024, Nadezhdin was barred from running. The decision was announced at a special CEC session, citing alleged irregularities in the signatures of voters supporting his candidacy. Nadezhdin's status as the only explicitly anti-war candidate is widely regarded as the real reason for his disqualification, although Vladislav Davankov has also promised "peace and negotiations" with Ukraine.

As was the case in the 2018 presidential election, the most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was barred from running due to a prior criminal conviction seen as politically motivated. Navalny died in jail in suspicious circumstances in February 2024, one month before the election.

Most international observers did not expect the election to be either free or fair. Instead, they expected the process to be dominated by Putin, who has been accused of increasing political repressions ever since launching his full-scale war with Ukraine in 2022.

Eligibility

Main article: 2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia

According to clause 3 of article 81 of the Constitution of Russia, prior to the 2020 constitutional revision, the same person could not hold the position of President of the Russian Federation for more than two consecutive terms, which allowed Vladimir Putin to become president in 2012 for a third term not consecutive with his prior terms. The constitutional reform established a hard limit of two terms overall. However, terms served before the constitutional revision do not count, which gives Vladimir Putin eligibility for two more presidential terms till 2036.

According to the new version of the Constitution, presidential candidates must:

• Be at least 35 years old (the requirement has not changed);
• Be a resident in Russia for at least 25 years (previously 10 years);
• Not have foreign citizenship or residence permit in a foreign country, neither at the time of the election nor at any time before (new requirement).

Candidates

The individuals below will appear on the ballot.

Name, age, political party			Experience	Home region	Campaign	Details	Registration date
Vladislav Davankov (40) New People			Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (2021–present) Member of the State Duma (2021–present)	Moscow	(Campaign • Website)	Davankov was nominated by his party in December 2023 during the party's congress. He was also supported by Party of Growth, which announced that it would merge with New People. Davankov submitted documents to participate in the election on 25 December 2023 and 1 January 2024.	5 January 2024
Vladimir Putin (71) Independent			Incumbent President of Russia (2000–2008 and 2012–present) Prime Minister of Russia (1999–2000 and 2008–2012) FSB Director (1998–1999)	Moscow	(Campaign • Website)	During a ceremony to award soldiers in December 2023, Putin announced that he would participate in the election. He is supported by United Russia and A Just Russia – For Truth, among others. Putin submitted documents to participate in the election on 18 December 2023, which were registered on 20 December. The CEC analyzed 60,000 signatures out of the 315,000 submitted by Putin, and found that only 91 (0.15%) were invalid, which is significantly below the 5% threshold.	29 January 2024
Leonid Slutsky (56) Liberal Democratic Party			Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (2022–present) Member of the State Duma (1999–present)	Moscow	(Campaign • Website)	Slutsky was nominated by his party in December 2023 during the party's congress. He submitted documents to the CEC on 25 December 2023 and 1 January 2024.	5 January 2024
Nikolay Kharitonov (75) Communist Party			Member of the State Duma (1993–present)	Krasnodar Krai	(Campaign)	Kharitonov was nominated by his party in December 2023 during the party's congress. He previously ran in the 2004 presidential election and came second with 13.7% of the vote. Kharitonov submitted documents to participate in the election on 27 December 2023 and 3 January 2024.	9 January 2024

Rejected candidates

Individuals in this section have had their document submissions accepted by the CEC to register their participation, and later gathered the necessary signatures from voters. The deadline to submit documents was 27 December 2023 for independents and 1 January 2024 for party-based nominations, with the commission already announcing the rejection of some candidates based on alleged issues with their paperwork.

Towards the deadline to submit documents, the CEC stated that 33 potential candidates were intending to be registered as candidates (24 independents and 9 party-based nominations). The commission accepted the documents of 15 candidates.

The next step was to collect signatures by 31 January 2024. Independents had to gather 300,000 signatures from the public in at least 40 of Russia's regions to support their participation and thereby be included on the ballot, while potential candidates nominated by political parties that are not represented in the State Duma or in at least a third of the country's regional parliaments had to gather 100,000 signatures.

Vladimir Putin was the first to achieve this, having gathered more than half a million signatures by 30 December; by 17 January he had gathered 2.5 million signatures. He was followed by Davankov, Kharitonov, Slutsky, Nadezhdin and Malinkovich (in no particular order). Others either failed to achieve this or withdrew from the process.

The CEC accepted the signatures of Putin, while rejecting Nadezhdin and Malinkovich on the basis of what it described to be irregularities. Davankov, Kharitonov and Slutsky were not required to collect signatures as they were nominated by political parties represented in the State Duma. This confimed the final number of candidates at four.

Rejected candidates

Potential candidate's name, age, political party			Experience	Home region	Campaign	Details	Signatures collected
Sergey Malinkovich (48) Communists of Russia	File:Только Малинкович.jpg		Member of the Altai Krai Legislative Assembly (2021–present) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communists of Russia (2022–present)	Altai Krai	(Campaign)	On 28 December 2023, Malinkovich was nominated as the candidate for his party. He submitted documents to register with the CEC on 1 January 2024. On 2 February, the CEC informed Malinkovich that it had found deficiencies in the signatures he had submitted.	Signatures collected 104,998 / 105,000 Signatures accepted 96,019 / 105,000
Boris Nadezhdin (60) Civic Initiative			Member of the Dolgoprudny City Council (1990–1997, 2019–present) Founder and President of the Institute of Regional Projects and Legislation Foundation (2001–present) Member of the State Duma (1999–2003)	Moscow Oblast	(Campaign • Website)	On 31 October 2023, Nadezhdin announced that he would run from the Civic Initiative party. On 26 December he submitted registration documents to the CEC, which were registered on 28 December. On 8 February 2024, the CEC announced that more than 5% of the signatures it had reviewed were invalid and therefore could not register him as a candidate. Nadezhdin subsequently appealed the decision at Russia's Supreme Court.	Signatures collected 105,000 / 105,000 Signatures accepted 95,587 / 105,000 Supreme Court appeals Case 1 Initial case submitted on February 16, 2024, and rejected on February 21 Appeal submitted on February 26, and rejected on March 4. Cases 2 & 3 Initial cases submitted on February 12, 2024, and rejected on February 15 Appeals submitted on February 19, and rejected on February 26

Party congresses and primaries

Congresses of political parties are held after the official appointment of election. At the congress, a party can either nominate its own candidate, or support a candidate nominated by another party or an independent candidate. Twelve parties held party congresses in December 2023, at which candidates were either nominated or endorsed.

Party		Congress date	Venue	Nominee	Reference
	United Russia	17 December 2023	VDNKh, Moscow	Endorsement of Vladimir Putin
	Liberal Democratic Party	19 December 2023	Crocus Expo, Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast	Leonid Slutsky
	Civic Initiative	23 December 2023	Moscow	Boris Nadezhdin
	Communist Party	23 December 2023	Snegiri wellness complex, Rozhdestveno, Moscow Oblast	Nikolay Kharitonov
	A Just Russia – For Truth	23 December 2023	Holiday Inn Sokolniki, Moscow	Endorsement of Vladimir Putin
	Party of Social Protection	23 December 2023	Moscow	Vladimir Mikhailov
	Russian All-People's Union	23 December 2023	Moscow	Sergey Baburin (Declined; endorsed Vladimir Putin)
	Party of Growth	24 December 2023	Moscow State University, Moscow	Vladislav Davankov
	New People
	Russian Party of Freedom and Justice	24 December 2023	Moscow	Andrey Bogdanov
	Democratic Party of Russia	25 December 2023	Moscow	Irina Sviridova (Declined; endorsed Vladimir Putin)
	Communists of Russia	28 December 2023	Moscow	Sergey Malinkovich

Other parties

At Yabloko's congress, which took place on 9 December 2023, somewhat unconventionally, the party decided that Grigory Yavlinsky would run for president as its nominee if he obtains 10 million signatures from potential voters, which is higher than the total number of votes Yavlinsky obtained during his most successful run for president (5.55 million). Yabloko later stated that it would not be nominating any candidate. Furthermore, Yavlinsky only managed to gather around a million signatures.

The Left Front stated that it would run a primary election between 22 candidates, but later announced it would not be holding the primary due to threats received from the police. Instead, the party called on their "comrades in the Communist Party" to vote for one of the following to be nominated at the party congress: Pavel Grudinin, Nikolai Bondarenko, Valentin Konovalov, Andrey Klychkov, Sergey Levchenko, Nina Ostanina, Igor Girkin.

Preparation of public opinion

According to an investigation published in February 2024 by a coalition of journals including VSquare, Delfi, Expressen and Paper Trail Media, Putin ordered Decree Number 2016, titled "On deputy heads responsible for social and political work of federal government agencies", on 17 February 2023. The decree stated its aim of coordination between the Ministry of Education and Science and other state agencies to "increase the number of voters and the support of the main candidates" in the 2024 presidential election and other elections. Documents from a governmental "non-profit organisation", ANO Integration, highlighted the emphasis on increasing the number of voters and the support of the main candidates, with turnout being used to indicate the scale of support and opposition to Putin.

The ANO Integration documents presented a plan to create lists of all employees and sub-lists of opinion leaders in institutions within the ministry's responsibility, and to monitor political attitudes and voting preferences and "increas[e] [the employee's] level of socio-political literacy". The documents planned for the preparation of secret instructions for social events in which selected opinion leaders and "experts" would meet with students and teachers in preparation for the election. Martin Kragh of the Center for East European Studies in Stockholm described the documents by stating, "All these documents show how little the Kremlin believes that people might just spontaneously support the ruling party". Mark Galeotti, a British historian, lecturer and writer, described the process as "pre-rigging" the election in order to minimise the amount of manipulation needed in the numbers of votes cast for Putin in the election. He stated, "The Kremlin cannot even trust what mayors and governors tell them about the [political] situation in their region."

When asked by a BBC journalist about his electoral campaign, Nikolay Kharitonov refused to answer why he thought he would be a better candidate than Putin, before proceeding to praise the latter for "trying to solve a lot of the problems of the 1990s" and consolidating the country for "victory in all areas." Shortly after filing his candidacy in December 2023, Leonid Slutsky said he did not "dream of beating Putin" and predicted that the latter would achieve "a huge victory". Vladislav Davankov said he would not criticize his political opponents.

Conduct

Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine

Early voting opened on 26 February and lasted until 14 March to allow certain residents in remote areas in 37 regions of Russia as well as in the regions of Ukraine that it annexed following its invasion in 2022 to vote. In the latter areas, a campaign called InformUIK was set up to encourage participation in the election, with its representatives going door-to-door escorted by armed men to compile voter lists and collect ballots from residences. A resident of Kherson Oblast described the elections in his area as a "comedy show", noting that households were being visited by "two locals - one holding a list of voters and the other a ballot box - and a military man with a machine gun".

Russian officials also used home visits by the mobile polling stations to monitor the population and find those participating in resistance activities or refusing to obtain Russian government documents. Reports also emerged of Russian-installed authorities coercing people to vote by withholding social benefits and healthcare treatment, while human rights activists said at least 27 Ukrainians were arrested for refusing to vote in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Despite Russian electoral laws prohibiting those without Russian passports from voting, voters in occupied Ukraine were allowed to present any valid identification documents, including a Ukrainian passport or driving license.

Efforts to promote turnout

On the eve of the first round of regular voting on 14 March, Putin called on citizens to vote in order to show their unity behind his leadership, saying in a video message that "We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia," and urged them "not to stray from this path".

Civil servants, employees at state-run companies and students have been strictly ordered to vote. Videos calling on Russians to vote presented them with an image of what awaits the country if they do not participate. In methods that analysts warn will be used to inflate the turnout and facilitate tampering, voters in 29 regions are being urged to cast ballots electronically. In many regions the vote doubles as a lottery, with prizes ranging from public transport credits and café vouchers to smart speakers, cars and even apartments. In Omsk, officials issued 50,000 free tickets at polling stations to first-time voters aged between 18 and 24 years of age for one Ferris wheel ride at an amusement park. In Altai Krai, voters were to be given a chance to win sanctioned goods and appliances such as an iPhone in a raffle, provided that they upload pictures on VKontakte showing them at polling stations. In Strezhevoy, Tomsk Oblast, the mayor promised free bread rolls and porridge to voters. In Sverdlovsk Oblast, authorities set up an election day trivia quiz about the region's history with and offered 2,000 smartphones, 45 apartments, 20 motorcycles, and 100 Moskvich cars as prizes, but said that correct answers would not guarantee a win. In Tatarstan, officials set a music festival in Kazan on 17 March that would be open to visitors upon presentation of a bracelet obtained at polling stations that would also guarantee free and unlimited access to public transportation, along with a chance to win in a raffle with three Lada Vesta cars at stake.

Reports also emerged of pressure being exerted by authorities on students and young people to vote. Students at a construction college in Perm Krai were ordered to vote inside the campus, with the school administration pledging to monitor turnout using video surveillance cameras. At Tula State Pedagogical University, students were required to submit a photo of their ballot to prove that they voted. Its rector had also publicly endorsed Putin. At Voronezh State Pedagogical University, students said they were required to inform authorities about who they were voting for.

Regular voting

On the regular election days, polls opened at 08:00 local time in Kamchatka Krai on 15 March and are expected to close at 20:00 local time in Kaliningrad Oblast on 17 March. Independent watchdogs were prevented from observing the conduct of the election, as only registered candidates and state-backed advisory bodies were allowed to send observers to polling stations. The independent election monitor Golos described the election as the "most vapid" since the 2000 election, noting that campaigning was “practically unnoticeable” and that authorities were “doing everything" to prevent people noticing that an election was taking place while state media provided less airtime to the election compared to 2018. It also described Putin's campaign as disguised by his activities as president, while his registered opponents were "demonstrably passive".

On 15 March, the Kremlin published images of Putin casting his vote online using a computer in his office. On the morning of the same day, the online voting system went down temporarily, with Golos and other independent electoral observers attributing the outage to the traffic generated by votes coming from workplaces.

Opinion polls

After nominations of potential candidates

Fieldwork date	Polling firm						Others	Undecided	Abstention
		Putin	Nadezhdin	Kharitonov	Slutsky	Davankov
6-10 Mar 2024	IRPZ	55.9%	Rejected	5.2%	3.2%	9.1%	3.1%	19.5%	4%
6-10 Mar 2024	CIPKR	55%		5%	4%	4%	1%		30%
4-6 Mar 2024	FOM	56%		4%	4%	3%	3%		30%
4 Mar 2024	VCIOM	56.2%		3%	2.25%	4.5%			25%
1-5 Mar 2024	ExtremeScan	57%		3%	1%	3%	2%	22%	12%
1-5 Mar 2024	CIPKR	61 %		6%	3%	5%	6%	4%	15%
26 Feb - 5 Mar 2024	IRPZ	56.2%		3.2%	2%	5.6%	1.5%	31%	0,1%
1-4 Mar 2024	Russian Field	66%		5%	4%	6%	0.4%	5%	14%
2-3 Mar 2024	VCIOM	60%		3%	2%	5%	2%	17%	11%
10-18 Feb 2024	CIPKR	62%		6%	3%	4%	7%	5%	13%
16 Feb 2024	Alexei Navalny dies while serving a 19-year prison sentence
15 Feb 2024	VCIOM	61%	Rejected	3%	2%	3%	2%	17%	13%
14 Feb 2024	VCIOM	64%		4%	3%	5%	2%	2%	2%
9-11 Feb 2024	FOM	74%		3%	3%	2%	1%	10%	5%
8 Feb 2024	VCIOM	57%		3%	3%	4%	2%	18%	14%
8 Feb 2024	Central Election Commission bars Nadezhdin from participating in the elections
1–7 Feb 2024	ExtremeScan	63%	6%	—	—	—	8%	12%	11%
27–30 Jan 2024	Russian Field	62.2%	7.8%	2.3%	1.9%	1.0%	2.5%	7.8%	12.8%
25–30 Jan 2024	ExtremeScan	61%	6%	2%	1%	—	2%	17%	11%
11–28 Jan 2024	CIPKR	60%	7%	4%	3%	0.3%	3%	7%	15%

Before the start of nominations of potential candidates

Fieldwork date	Polling firm																			Others	Undecided	Abstention
		Putin	Grudinin	Zyuganov	Zhirinovsky	Slutsky	Navalny	Shoigu	Lavrov	Medvedev	Sobyanin	Dyumin	Volodin	Mishustin	Furgal	Platoshkin	Bondarenko	Mironov	Prigozhin
Dec 2023	VCIOM	42.7%	1.6%	3.8%	Deceased	—	1.2%	8.7%	14.3%	—	—	—	2.9%	18.8%	—	0.7%	0.8%	1.8%	Deceased	1.2%	37.2%
Nov 2023	VCIOM	37.3%	1.4%	3.0%		—	1.3%	8%	15.4%	—	—	—	2.7%	16.6%	—	0.8%	0.8%	1.7%		1.3%	42%
23–29 Nov 2023	Levada Center	58.0%	0.5%	1.3%		0.5%	—	—	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%	—	—	0.5%	—	—	0.2%	0.4%		0.8%	31.9%	4.8%
Oct 2023	VCIOM	37.3%	1.7%	3.0%		—	1.4%	7.2%	15.3%	—	—	—	3.1%	15.6%	—	0.7%	0.9%	1.6%		1.7%	42.2%
Sep 2023	VCIOM	36%	1.4%	3.6%		—	1.8%	7.3%	14.7%	—	—	—	2.7%	15.3%	—	0.7%	0.9%	1.7%		1.8%	42.9%
2–10 Sep 2023	Russian Field	29.9%	1.3%	0.6%		—	1.7%	0.5%	0.6%	—	0.6%	—	—	1.1%	—	0.6%	—	—		23.6%	32.2%	6.4%
Aug 2023	VCIOM	35.5%	1.5%	3.4%		—	1.7%	7.1%	12.6%	—	—	—	3.2%	15.4%	—	0.7%	0.7%	1.7%		1.7%	43.9%
23 Aug 2023	Wagner Group plane crash including leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a crash
1–9 Aug 2023	CIPKR	60%	4%	2%	Deceased		4%	2%	—	1%	—	—		3%	—	—	—		—	11%	7%	3%
Jul 2023	VCIOM	37.1%	1.3%	3.2%		—	1.5%	6.9%	13.9%	—	—	—	3.0%	16.8%	—	0.8%	0.8%	1.7%	—	2.0%	42.1%
20–26 Jul 2023	Levada Center	44%	—	3%			1%	7%	13%	3%	4%	—		18%	—	—	—		—	7%	19%	5.9%
Jun 2023	VCIOM	37.1%	1.4%	3.4%		—	1.7%	8.9%	14.1%				3.4%	15.5%	—	0.8%	0.5%	1.7%		1.9%	41.4%
22–28 Jun 2023	Levada Center	42%	—	4%			—	8%	14%	4%	4%	—		18%	—	—	—		2%	5%
23–24 Jun 2023	Wagner Group rebellion
May 2023	VCIOM	37.1%	1.2%	3.9%	Deceased	—	1.3%	10.0%	14.7%				3.2%	15.5%		0.7%	0.8%	2.0%		1.7%	41.2%
13–16 May 2023	Russian Field	30.2%	1.1%	—			2.8%	0.4%	0.5%	0.3%	0.8%	—		0.4%	1.1%	0.5%	0.4%		3%	26.4%	28.8%	5.9%
Apr 2023	VCIOM	38.7%	1.4%	3.6%		—	1.2%	12.1%	17.6%				2.8%	16.5%		0.9%	0.8%	2.3%		1.7%	39.3%
Mar 2023	VCIOM	38.7%	1.3%	3.7%		—	1.6%	11.5%	16.3%				3.2%	17.4%		0.8%	0.8%	2.2%		2.2%	39.6%
Feb 2023	VCIOM	37.5%	1.4%	4.4%		—	1.8%	11.2%	16.3%				3.2%	14.3%		0.9%	0.8%	2.6%		2.0%	39.8%
21–28 Feb 2023	Levada Center	43%	1%	5%			1%	12%	15%	3%	3%	—		17%	1%	—	—		—	6%	17%	16%
Jan 2023	VCIOM	37.1%	1.5%	3.2%		—	1.9%	13.4%	15.2%				4.1%	14.9%		1.0%	0.9%	1.8%		2.4%	40.1%
24–30 Nov 2022	Levada Center	39%	—	5%			1%	12%	14%	3%	3%	—		17%	—	—	1%		—	5%	7%	18%
30 Sep 2022	Russia annexes part of southeastern Ukraine
21–27 Jul 2022	Levada Center	43%	—	4%	Deceased		1%	14%	14%	3%	4%	—		16%	—	—	1%		—	5%	16%	16%
6 Apr 2022	Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky dies
24 Feb 2022	Beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
21 Feb 2022	Russia announces international recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic
10–28 Dec 2021	CIPKR	—	3%	—	0%		5%	18%	—	2%	1%	1%		15%	—	—	—		—	24%	31%
25 Nov–1 Dec 2021	Levada Center	32%	1%	2%	3%		1%	1%	—	—	—	—		1%	—	—	1%		—	3%	21%	27%
22–28 Apr 2021	Levada Center	40%	1%	2%	4%		2%	—	—	—	—	—		1%	1%	1%	1%		—	3%	18%	23%
17 Jan 2021	Arrest of Alexei Navalny
Dec 2020	CIPKR	—	5%	—	1%		2%	18%	—	4%	2%	0%		8%	—	—	—		–	33%	27%
19–26 Nov 2020	Levada Center	39%	1%	2%	6%		2%	1%	—	—	—	—		1%	—	1%	—		—	2%	16%	24%
20–26 Aug 2020	Levada Center	40%	1%	1%	4%		2%	1%	—	—	—	—		1%	1%	1%	—		—	2%	26%	22%
09 Jul 2020	Arrest of Sergei Furgal
18–23 Dec 2019	CIPKR	—	9%	—	4%		—	24%	—	11%	5%	1%		—	—	—	—		–	26%	20%
12–18 Dec 2019	Levada Center	38%	3%	2%	4%		2%	1%	—	1%	—	—		—	—	—	—		–	2%	26%	22%
18–24 Jul 2019	Levada Center	40%	3%	1%	3%		1%	—	—	<1%	—	—		—	—	—	—		–	2%	31%	19%
21–27 Mar 2019	Levada Center	41%	4%	2%	5%		1%	1%	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—		–	3%	26%	19%
18–24 Oct 2018	Levada Center	40%	3%	2%	4%		1%	<1%	<1%	—	—	—		—	—	—	—		–	2%	27%	23%

Exit polls on 17 March released by VCIOM showed Vladimir Putin with 87% of the vote, 10% more than in 2018, Nikolai Kharitonov with 4.6%, Vladislav Davankov with 4.2% and Leonid Slutsky with 3%. Invalid ballots accounted for 1.2% of votes cast.

Election observers

Golos was not allowed to send election observers. Golos was first labelled a "foreign agent" in 2013, having angered Russian authorities by publishing evidence of fraud in the 2011 parliamentary vote and the 2012 presidential election won by Putin.

On 29 January 2024, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced that the organisation would not participate in international monitoring of election, citing the lack of an invitation from Russia.

On 14 March, delegations from 36 countries arrived in Russia at the invitation of the Russian Federation Council as foreign observers of the election, who in fact do not represent observer missions but a visitors' programme. On 17 March 2024, the Chair of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (CEC), Ella Pamfilova, announced that 1,115 international observers and experts from 129 countries were monitoring the electoral process.

Observers included Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Results

99.47% reporting
Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Vladimir Putin	Independent	74,640,565	88.54
	Nikolay Kharitonov	Communist Party	3,685,628	4.37
	Vladislav Davankov	New People	3,245,658	3.85
	Leonid Slutsky	Liberal Democratic Party	2,732,973	3.24
Total			84,304,824	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			114,212,734	–
Source: Central Electoral Commission

Reactions

Domestic

On 6 August 2023, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told The New York Times that "our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy. Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote". Later he clarified that this was his personal opinion. In an interview with the RBK news agency, Peskov said that Russia "theoretically" does not need to hold presidential elections because "it’s obvious that Putin will be reelected."

On 6 November 2023, journalist Yekaterina Duntsova announced her intention to run for the presidency in the 2024 election; she said she would run as an independent candidate on an anti-war platform. The next month, her nomination documents were rejected by the Central Election Commission.

In November 2023, nationalist ex-militia commander Igor Girkin announced his intention to run as a candidate in the 2024 elections, describing elections in Russia as a "sham" in which "the only winner [referring to Putin] is known in advance".

In January 2024, citing unidentified sources in the Kremlin, the independent news outlet Vyorstka reported that the CEC, at the behest of the Kremlin, will likely reject Boris Nadezhdin’s registration due to his criticism of Putin and anti-war stances. In late January 2024, a source in the Putin administration told the Latvia-based news outlet Meduza: "There’s a portion of the electorate that wants the war to end. If [Putin’s opponent in the elections] decides to cater to this demand, they may get a decent percentage. And [the Putin administration] doesn’t need that." Russian state media intensified a smear campaign against Nadezhdin in the weeks leading up to the election. On 30 January 2024, Kremlin propagandist and television presenter Vladimir Solovyov warned Nadezhdin: "I feel bad for Boris. The fool didn’t realize that he’s not being set up to run for president but for a criminal case on charges of betraying the Motherland."

After Russia's main opposition leader Alexei Navalny suspiciously died in February 2024 just before the election, his widow Yulia Navalnaya pledged to continue his work, asking Russians to "stand beside me" and speaking at the European Parliament.

Following the CEC's decision to ban him from running, Nadezhdin wrote in his Telegram channel: "I do not agree with the decision of the CEC… Participating in the presidential election in 2024 is the most important political decision in my life. I am not backing down from my intentions."

International

In an interview with TV3 on 4 March 2024, Latvian justice minister Inese Lībiņa-Egnere implied that Russians in the country who would participate in the election to be held in the Russian embassy in Riga could face criminal liability for justifying the invasion of Ukraine under Latvian law. On 14 March, Lībiņa-Egnere appeared to have reversed her stance, stating that participation in the elections "does not equate to supporting Putin" and is "not punishable in any way"; she added that Latvia "does not want to provoke an international row and intends to act like a democratic state". On 11 March, Armands Ruks, the head of the Latvian State Police announced that voters at the embassy would be subjected to police screenings before entering.

The Russian ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova on 12 March following Russia's decision to open six polling stations in occupied Transnistria for the election, which Moldovan foreign minister Mihai Popșoi described as "unacceptable". The Moldovan government had previously agreed to open only one polling station in the Russian embassy in Chișinău as per international law as it claimed.

The United States condemned voting in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and said that it would "never recognize the legitimacy or outcome of these sham elections held in sovereign Ukraine." The Ukrainian foreign ministry called on international media and public figures "to refrain from referring to this farce as 'elections' in the language of democratic states." On 15 March, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, released a joint statement on behalf of Ukraine, the European Union and 56 other countries including the US condemning the holding of the elections in occupied parts of the country. The Ukrainian government said it would not press charges against its residents of occupied areas who participate in the election, saying that they were being forced to vote.

On the first day of regular voting on 15 March, European Council president Charles Michel sarcastically congratulated Putin for winning a "landslide victory" in the elections starting that day, adding that there was "No opposition. No freedom. No choice.”

The UN Security Council condemned the holding of the elections in occupied territories of Ukraine with deputy secretary-general Rosemary DiCarlo saying that “holding elections in another UN member state’s territory without its consent is in manifest disregard for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and were “invalid” under international law.

Protests

On 1 February 2024, jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his allies called on supporters to protest Putin and the invasion of Ukraine on the last day of the election on 17 March all going to vote against Putin at the same time. Following Navalny's death, there were calls from Andrius Kubilius, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya for the EU to recognize the Russian elections as illegitimate. Navalnaya called for Russians critical of Putin to join the "Noon Against Putin" initiative to form long queues at polling stations at noon on 17 March before proceeding to vote for anyone other than Putin, spoil their ballots or cast Navalny's name. On the day of the action, Navalnaya joined queues outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, while in Russia, queues formed at polling stations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg at noon. Queues were also observed outside Russian diplomatic missions in Tallinn, Paris and Milan.

In response to the protests, authorities in Moscow threatened to prosecute participants. On 17 March, the Russian human rights group OVD-Info said that 65 people in 16 cities across Russia were arrested for election-related offences.

Incidents

Attacks by Ukrainian and other armed groups

Attacks have been launched against Russian electoral institutions in occupied areas of Ukraine. On the first day of early voting on 27 February 2024, two bombs were detonated at the local offices of the United Russia party and near a polling station in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast. On 6 March, a local official of the Russian Central Election Commission in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was killed by a car bomb, according to Ukrainian officials. When asked about the killing, the Ukrainian appointed governor of the oblast, Ivan Fedorov, attributed the attack to "our resistance", adding that they were linked to Ukrainian secret services and that "it is abnormal when our citizens collaborate with Russians". On 15 March, an improvised explosive device was detonated inside a rubbish bin in front of a polling station in Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast, injuring five Russian soldiers. On 16 March, the Russian-installed governor of Kherson Oblast, Vladimir Saldo claimed that one person was killed and four others were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in Kakhovka, which he claimed was an attempt to disrupt voting, while TASS reported that a Ukrainian drone struck a polling station in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

During the 2024 Western Russia incursion on 12 March, the Sibir Battalion, an armed Russian opposition group based in Ukraine, published a video condemning the elections, saying that "Ballots and polling stations in this case are fiction.“ A member of the Freedom of Russia Legion, which also participated in the attacks, acknowledged that they were "timed with the so-called elections" and referred to it as a "voting method." Putin also described the incursion as an attempt to "disrupt" the election and "interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens."

Attacks by civilians

During regular polling, several election-related incidents were reported across the country, resulting in at least 13 arrests, seven of which were for pouring liquid substances on ballot boxes and four for committing acts of arson in polling stations, one of which involved a woman in Saint Petersburg who was arrested for throwing a molotov cocktail at a school hosting two polling stations after having allegedly been promised a financial incentive by a "Ukrainian Telegram channel". A voting booth was also set on fire in Moscow. In Podolsk, Moscow Oblast, a voter was charged with “discrediting the Russian army” and fined 30,000 rubles ($342) after spoiling her ballot by writing an unspecified message. Some voters uploaded images of them spoiling their ballots by writing messages such as “killer and thief” and “waiting for you in The Hague”, a reference to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Putin over war crimes in Ukraine.

On 17 March, a Moldovan national was arrested after throwing two molotov cocktails at the grounds of the Russian embassy in Chișinău, which was being used as a polling station for Russian nationals in Moldova. Moldovan police said that the man, who also claimed to be carrying Russian citizenship, "justified his action by some dissatisfaction he has with the actions of the Russian authorities."

In response to the attacks on polling stations, former president and deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev called for charges of treason to be filed against those who vandalize polling stations for attempting to derail the vote amid the fighting in Ukraine.

Cyberattacks

On 16 March, the United Russia party said its website was targeted by a cyberattack.

Allegations of fraud

On 16 March, Golos released a video on social media appearing to show staff at a polling station in Krasnodar stuffing multiple voting slips into ballot boxes.