Moscow, 26 November: The head of the Central Electoral Commission [CEC], Vladimir Churov, believes that in the event of him leaving his post early, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be able to take part in the presidential election on 2 March 2008.

"According to the law, an official who occupies this post (the post of the Russian president), in the event of him leaving his post early, will not be able to take part in this election," Churov stated, answering journalists' questions.

At the same time, Federation Council speaker Sergey Mironov explained that what is meant in this case is early stepping down. "We have taken a decision to hold a scheduled election and a certain collision remains here [phrase as published]," Mironov said.

Churov replied to this by saying that the CEC does not for the time being consider this collision, "because we have received no application of the kind".

To a question as to what the collision is precisely about, Mironov explained that "if the current president steps down early and an early presidential election is set, then he does not have the right to take part in it".

"But today - please note this - we set the scheduled election which will take place as planned and there is a collision here after all," Mironov said.

To this Churov told journalists that he now proceeds from "intentions repeatedly expressed by the current president".