MOSCOW, JANUARY 15, RIA NOVOSTI - The Central Election Commission has registered Nikolai Kharitonov for the presidential race.
Candidate of the Communist Party of Russia, and member of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, Mr. Kharitonov does not need to collect two million public signatures in his nomination support after his party leapt over a 5% vote barrier in the latest Duma election.
The Communist hopeful was a second to reach official registration, after Oleg Malyshkin of the Liberal Democratic Party.
A total ten are running for presidency-incumbent Vladimir Putin among them. Political parties have nominated four. The other six are independent candidates. All except Kharitonov and Malyshkin are to collect two million signatures or more before January 28 to qualify for the race.
