Two political parties in Russia will not field opposition candidates to Vladimir Putin
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Two of Russia's main parties have decided not to field candidates in the country's Presidential election.
At their congresses in Moscow the 'A Just Russia' party and the 'Civic Platform' decided to support incumbent President Vladamir Putin.
Serget Mironov, from A Just Russia said;
"It was of principal importance to us that Vladimir Putin participate not on behalf of "United Russia", but as an independent candidate. In that manner, he called upon the widest political and social forces in Russia to support him, and that is how we will respond."
This means four out of six parties in the Duma, the lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly, support Putin.
Rifat Shakhutdinov from the Civic Platform said;
"Our party historically support the course taken by Vladimir Putin. Starting with Crimea, as you remember, we went through a rather difficult period of our foundation and political maturity, supporting the re-unification with Crimea".
There is some opposition to Putin in the form of Ksenia Sobchak, a media personality. However, her candidacy is with The Civil Initiative party - who have no representation in the Duma.
The Central Election commission rejected opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s application for a candidacy