Campaign for Chechen president's early elections starts today

The campaign for early elections of the Chechen president starts on Tuesday, May 25, chairman of the Russian Central Election Commission Alexander Veshnyakov announced in Moscow yesterday.

On Tuesday the Chechen Election Commission will officially release its resolution on early presidential elections. Thus, May 25 can be considered an official start of the campaign, Veshnyakov said.

Presidential hopefuls are to submit their applications before July 14, he added.

The Chechen government will be allocated additional 50-60 million rubles to hold the campaign, Veshnyakov announced.

Early presidential elections in Chechnya, scheduled for August 29, are fully in line with the federal and Chechen legislation, he emphasized.

"The legal basis for the elections is provided by the Chechen law On Presidential Elections in the version chosen by the population at the referendum. Besides, the Constitution of the Chechen republic also provides a legal basis," he explained.

The campaign will be carried out by the incumbent election commission of Chechnya. "Its mandate did not expire, as the necessity arose to hold these elections," Veshnyakov said.

The elections will be held in compliance with the current legislation, which allows a presidential candidate either to collect voters' signatures or to submit an election deposit of over 4.5 million rubles ($1 equals 29 rubles) with spending on the campaign limited by 30 million rubles. Besides, a candidate can be nominated from a political party and in this case he or she will not need signatures or the deposit.

Veshnyakov believes that from 5 to 10 candidates will run for Chechen president.

The elections in the republic are held early due to the death of the former Chechen leader, who was killed in a terrorist attack on May 9.