Russian presidential election: who is Ekaterina Duntsova, “humanist” candidate facing Vladimir Putin?

Will Vladimir Putin have to face this rival in the March 2024 presidential election? Ekaterina Duntsova submitted her candidacy documents to the electoral commission on Wednesday, December 20, and must still finish collecting the required 300,000 voter signatures across Russia by the January 31 deadline. She announces that she has already obtained more than 135,000 signatures on her website duntsova2024.ru.

Ekaterina Duntsova, 40, is from the Tver region northwest of Moscow. The former journalist, appointed correspondent for the TK Rzhev television channel in 2003, will then move to the independent channel RiT. Convinced of being able to “return the decision-making process to the people”, she ran for elections in her hometown in 2014, in which she failed. Her second participation, however, will be a success which will allow her to raise her voice as a deputy in the Duma in 2019. In 2016, this mother of three children became involved as a volunteer in the “sova” association, an organization which supports the search for missing children and adults in Russia.

Her experiences, both humanitarian and in politics, allowed her, according to her, to put together a candidacy supporting “humanist” and “peace” values ​​in the face of Vladimir Putin. The candidate without a label, a former MP from her hometown Rzhev, detailed elements of her program on her website duntsova2024.ru.

The ceasefire in Ukraine, costly in human lives as well as material losses, is a priority on Ekaterina Duntsova's program. She also wishes to promote progress in terms of individual freedoms. “Citizens cannot freely express their opinion if it does not coincide with the position of the authorities,” she regrets on her website. In the same vein, she wants to change the country's budgetary management: "spend money to improve the lives of citizens, not on new tanks" she predicts. But in the current context, the Russian military budget only increases from year to year for the war effort. Despite an allocation of 63 billion euros in 2023, Vladimir Putin announced a 70% increase in the military budget for 2024.

Another vast project does not seem to scare the Russian candidate: that of the distribution of powers. The former Duma deputy wants state governors to be better able to issue directives without pressure from the Kremlin. An iron fist from which the Russian population could free itself, according to her. “The Russians think they need an iron fist. We are so used to it. But what I think is that they can very well make their own decisions,” she declared on Wednesday during the official submission of her candidacy. Questioned on LCI, she mentioned the possibility of “electing someone from the people without someone from the administration standing behind her”.

Reacting on LCI, Aurélien Duchêne, analyst in international relations and defense and specialist in Russia, estimates the percentage close to nothing of seeing his candidacy succeed - due to the treatment reserved for the Kremlin's opponents. However, according to him, the denunciation of certain abuses of Russian power could resonate with public opinion.

An outspoken opponent of the Putin regime, Ekaterina Duntsova does not benefit from the visibility of the Russian media, the vast majority of which do not even mention her candidacy. To build her popularity, the former journalist communicates mainly on the social network Telegram where she now has nearly 300,000 subscribers.

The candidate describes developments in her presidential campaign as well as organized rallies. This Thursday, December 21, she announced that the administrator who officially registered her candidacy was pressured by the Kremlin. “Of course I’m afraid,” she declared following the submission of her candidacy, but she seems determined to see her project through to the end. Ekaterina Duntsova also benefits from numerous messages of support on Telegram. One of her subscribers supports her candidacy: “Ekaterina Duntsova wants to work on the expression of public opinion in our country. It shows that Putin has an alternative!”

This candidacy is reminiscent of that of Alexei Navalny in the last Russian presidential election in 2018. Also known for his fierce fight against corruption in Russia, as well as for his criticism of the Putinian vertical of power, the candidate had quickly been ousted from the political scene. After suffering an assassination attempt with Novichok in 2020, the fervent opponent of Putin was placed in a work camp, in detention, then sentenced to 19 years in prison in August 2023. He is now missing, imprisoned in a location kept secret by the Russian authorities.

After such condemnations, the question arises today as to what would happen to the Russian opponent of Vladimir Putin if she managed to progress in the polls in the coming weeks.