President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Thursday said he would participate in the 2018 presidential election as an independent candidate.
Putin, who made this known while addressing a news conference, said he still hopes for support of parties and public organizations, which share his vision of the country’s development.
He said: “It will be self-nomination. Of course, I hope for support of those political forces, regardless of the way they are organised in the country, parties, public organisations, which share my view of the country’s development and trust me.
“Of course, I hope for this very much. And I hope for the overall support from the public.”
Putin said that Russia’s political environment should be competitive, adding that he would exert efforts to achieve this goal.
He said: “I think that our political environment, as well as the economic one, should be competitive. Of course, I would like it very much to be like this, and I will try to achieve the situation, when we have a well-balanced political system, and it is impossible to imagine it without the competition in a political field.”
He said that his election programme for the 2018 presidential election was practically ready, but would be presented later.
Putin said: “I would like not to talk about the election program now, which I will have, just like other candidates, there must be one. I practically have it already.
“Still, I repeat, today is probably not the right format to present it.
“But I can tell you what the main thing is, on which, to my mind, both the authorities and the society need to focus.
“Specifically, it’s such issues as development of infrastructure, healthcare, education.
“It’s, as I said before, advanced technologies, increasing labour productivity, and, undoubtedly, it all must be aimed at increasing the income of the citizens, the income of our people.”
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