Vladimir Putin continued his path to reelection as Russia’s president on Sunday, when delegates from the country’s ruling party unanimously backed his bid.

Putin, 71, was formally nominated Saturday as an independent candidate. He announced his reelection campaign Dec. 8 and will face few hurdles on the trail, as his most prominent opponents are either locked up in jail or living abroad.

The pro-Putin United Russia party, which dominates the nation’s politics and controls a majority of legislative seats, convened Sunday and endorsed Putin’s candidacy.

“We must mobilize all activists, all supporters in order to prevent any disruptions during the election campaign, stop any attempts to influence the course of the campaign from the outside, arrange provocations, disseminate false, harmful information or violate public order,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the former prime minister and president who is currently chairman of the party.

Putin has used various paths to maintain his iron grip on power atop Russia’s political system since his rule began in 1999. In 2012, he ran for president as the official candidate of United Russia. In 2018, he ran as an independent candidate.

In July 2020, Putin changed the Russian constitution so that he could remain as president through 2036.

Despite the long odds, one opposition candidate cleared an initial checkpoint to run as an independent on Sunday. Yekaterina Duntsova was nominated by 521 supporters in Moscow, according to independent Russian media.

Russian law requires 500 people to nominate an opposition candidate, then demands the candidate go on to obtain 300,000 signatures from across the nation.

Duntsova is a former journalist and local lawmaker who advocates for peace in Ukraine and the release of political prisoners across Russia. She has expressed fear that by running against Putin she could also be persecuted by the state.

The 2024 Russian elections are scheduled for March 15-17. A third candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, announced his candidacy in November. He was backed by the Civic Initiative party and has also campaigned against the war in Ukraine.

With News Wire Services