MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Activists from TV host Ksenia Sobchak’s election headquarters have collected more than 101,000 signatures in her support, edging past the needed 100,000, according to a counter at Sobchak’s election website.
Sobchak is running for the Russian presidency as a nominee from the Civil Initiative party. Candidates from non-parliamentary parties have to collect at least 100,000 signatures for the election and file no more than 105,000 with the Central Election Commission (CEC).
According to the site’s counter, 101,008 signatures have been collected to date. The CEC will be receiving signatures and documents for the registration until 18:00 Moscow time January 31. Sixty thousand signatures in support of each candidate will be subject to review by the CEC.
TV personality and socialite Ksenia Sobchak announced plans to run for president of Russia in 2018. Sobchak, 35, is the daughter of late Anatoly Sobchak, the first democratically elected mayor of St. Petersburg who was once a political mentor to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The presidential election in Russia will take place on March 18, 2018.
FILE – In this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 file photo Russian socialite and TV host Kseniya Sobchak, daughter of the late St. Petersburg mayor, Anatoly Sobchak, takes a photo of journalists during her interview in the Echo Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station in Moscow, Russia. “I’m Ksenia Sobchak, and I’ve got something to lose. But I’m here.” This is what the blond socialite and TV personality said when she began her unlikely foray into political activism by taking the stage at a huge anti-Putin rally in December. Once considered untouchable because of her family’s close personal ties to President Vladimir Putin, Sobchak has since found that she does indeed have something to lose, as her apartment has been raided by police and she has been called in for interrogation. It has been a quick change of fortune for Russia’s It Girl, who like many Russians of her generation experienced a civic awakening after many years of political passivity. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)Russian socialite and TV host Kseniya Sobchak, center, daughter of the late St. Petersburg mayor, Anatoly Sobchak, and State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, second left, walk with protesters in downtown Moscow, late Tuesday, May 8, 2012 a day after Putin’s inauguration. Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in a brief but regal Kremlin ceremony on Monday, while on the streets outside thousands of helmeted riot police prevented hundreds of demonstrators from protesting his return to the presidency. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)Russian reality television star and socialite Kseniya Sobchak, left, and Russian film director and actor Ivan Okhlobystin arrive at the f MuzTV Awards ceremony, in Moscow, Friday, June 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)ITAR-TASS 63: MOSCOW, RUSSIA. MARCH 14. TV personality Ksenia Sobchak in pink outfit with poodles on the set of Circus With Celebs Show (Tsirk So Zvyozdami) broadcast on Russia’s Channel One. (Photo ITAR-TASS / Ruslan Roshchupkin)ITAR-TASS 10: MOSCOW, RUSSIA. FEBRUARY 8. TV host and socialite Ksenia Sobchak poses for the press in the shopping centre European at the Russian premiere of William Heins comedy Pledge This! starring Paris Hilton. Ksenia Sobchak is the voice of Paris Hilton in the comedy released in Russia under the title Blonde in Chocolate. (Photo ITAR-TASS / Vitaly Belousov)MOSCOW, RUSSIA. NOVEMBER 29, 2014. TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak at the opening of the GUM Skating Rink in Moscow’s Red Square. Ilya Pitalev/TASSMOSCOW, RUSSIA. MARCH 3, 2015. Actress Anna Ukolova (L) as bride Agafya and TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak as matchmaker Fyokla Ivanovna perform in a scene from Nikolai Gogol’s play The Marriage staged by Filipp Grigoryan at the Theatre of Nations in Moscow. Mikhail Japaridze/TASSITAR-TASS 04: MOSCOW, RUSSIA. NOVEMBER 20, 2009. TV presenter Kseniya Sobchak attends the Glamour Women of the Year awards ceremony. (Photo ITAR-TASS / Maxim Shemetov)ITAR-TASS 36: MOSCOW, RUSSIA. JANUARY 22, 2010. Socialite Kseniya Sobchak and dancer Yevgeny Papunaishvili dancing during the shooting of the show ‘Dances With Stars: 2010 Season’ for the Rossiya TV Channel. This is a Russian version of the BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. (Photo ITAR-TASS / Alexei Ladygin)Photo courtesy Valery Sharfulin for TASS
