Presidential elections were held in Russia on 4 March 2012. There were five officially registered candidates: four representatives of registered parties, and one nominal independent. The election was the first one held after constitutional amendments were introduced in 2008, in which the elected president for the first time would serve a six-year term, rather than a four-year term.
Image: Moscow rally 1 May 2012 7 (cropped)
Image: Mikhail Prokhorov IF 09 2013 (cropped)
Image: Пешко А.В. и Жириновский В.В. (cropped)
The All-Russian Political Party "United Russia" is the ruling political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 of the 450 seats in the State Duma as of 2022, having constituted the majority in the chamber since 2007.
United Russia campaigners in Saint Petersburg during the Russian 2007 election
Then party leader Vladimir Putin with Yury Luzhkov, Dmitry Medvedev, Sergei Shoigu and Boris Gryzlov in 2009 at the 11th United Russia Party Congress
12th Congress of United Russia
Medvedev and Putin in the 12th Party Congress in September 2011