The incumbent head of Chechnya recently visited the republic's election commission and officially submitted documents to run for a new—his fifth—term as regional head in the election scheduled for September 20, the Unified Voting Day.

After receiving written confirmation from the commission chairman that his documents had been accepted and obtaining permission to open a special campaign account, Kadyrov stated that if the people placed their trust in him again, he would "strive to live up to it."

"I cannot promise the people mountains of gold. But I will build and continue doing what I have been doing, while striving to do even more—bringing in new people and implementing new ideas," the republic's incumbent head said.

A day after Kadyrov’s visit to the election commission, two other contenders for Chechnya’s top post announced their candidacies: Khalid Nakayev, a deputy in the Chechen Parliament, and Ismail Denilkhanov, chairman of the Chechen Republic’s Civic Chamber.

According to his official biography, 48-year-old Denilkhanov holds two university degrees: one from the School of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University and another from Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University. He worked for the Chechen parliament’s administrative staff and later for the Department of External Relations of the Head and Government of the Republic. In 2017, he became head of the Chechen Civic Chamber; he also leads the Chechen regional branch of the Artists' Union of Russia.

The regional election commission reported that Nakayev was nominated by the Chechen branch of the Communist Party (KPRF), while Denilkhanov was nominated by the branch of the "A Just Russia" party. As expected, Kadyrov is running as the candidate for "United Russia."

For the Denilkhanov family, however, participating in the election for the head of Chechnya is not a new experience. In 2016, the current candidate’s father, Sultan Denilkhanov, ran for the same office; like his son today, he was nominated by the A Just Russia party and headed its regional branch in Chechnya. During that same election campaign, Ismail Denilkhanov was elected to the republic’s parliament on the party’s list.

Observers describe the participation of candidates who are loyal to the authorities—and who have no realistic chance of winning—as a purely technical exercise, referring to such nominees as "sparring partners" for the main candidate.

The current campaign largely mirrors the previous one: observers note that Khalid Nakaev and Ismail Denilkhanov are expected to fulfill a similar role.

In 2016, there were three "technical" candidates for the post of Head of Chechnya: Gairsolt Bataev, Chairman of the republic’s Civic Chamber (nominated by the CPRF); Idris Usmanov, the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights in Chechnya (representing the Party of Growth); and Sultan Denilkhanov (from A Just Russia). They received 1.47%, 0.87%, and 0.54% of the vote, respectively.

It will soon become clear how many names—three or more—will appear on the ballot this time.