Yabloko party founder Grigory Yavlinsky on Monday submitted documents required to be officially registered as a presidential candidate to the Central Election Commission.
His candidacy was supported by 106 delegates of the party’s congress on Sunday; three people backed an alternative candidate, actor Viktor Balabanov.
Yabloko insiders had expected the party might back anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny as its candidate against Putin. However, Navalny was not on the ballot as he was expelled from Yabloko in 2007 for his nationalist views.
Party leader Sergei Mitrokhin said Friday that Navalny was denied support because he "has not given up his views," Gazeta.ru reported.
Yabloko has until January 18 to gather two million signatures from across Russia in support of Yavlinsky’s candidacy and only after that can he be officially registered as a presidential candidate.
If everything goes well, it will become Yavlinsky’s third bid for the country's top post. He participated in the in 1996 and 2000 polls.
Among other things, the Yabloko leader promised to pardon jailed ex-Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky if he wins the race.
Yabloko brought gathered around 1,500 people on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square on Saturday to protest against alleged fraud during the December 4 parliamentary elections. Official results gave the party 3.4 percent of the vote, which is below the threshold point of five percent to be represented in the State Duma and below the necessary seven percent to form a party in the lower house of parliament.
