In Russia, elections that are considered settled will be probed for signs of dissent

Russian authorities on Thursday excluded from the presidential race the only candidate who had openly challenged President Vladimir V. Putin's position of power in Russia, calling the decision to invade Ukraine a “fatal mistake.”

The move by Russia's Central Electoral Commission, the body that regulates Russia's elections, was the latest predictable twist in a campaign that few doubt will result in Putin's re-election in March.

Putin's expected victory in the March 15-17 presidential election would give him a fifth term in the Kremlin, making his rule one of the longest and most consequential in Russian history.

The committee's dismissal of anti-war candidate Boris B. Nadezhdin showed how the Kremlin has decided to remove any contenders who deviate from the party line. Mr Nadezhdin had made his resolve to end the war in Ukraine central to his campaign, drawing thousands of supporters from across Russia.

More than 112 million people, including in the occupied territories of Ukraine, have the right to vote in the elections, and about 65 percent of them are expected to do so based on turnout in previous elections.

Rather than elections, analysts say the upcoming vote will be largely a referendum on Putin's policies – and especially on his decision to invade Ukraine two years ago.

“You shouldn't look at it as a classic election by democratic standards,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “Yet this is a serious procedure that puts stress on the system.”

Here's a guide to what to expect.

How is Mr Putin campaigning?

As in the previous elections in 2018, Mr Putin is running as a self-proclaimed candidate, without any party affiliation, and has yet to publish an election manifesto.

He is unlikely to sow division between his work as president and his campaign for re-election.

Dmitry S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said in late January that Putin's daily routine would not differ much from his usual presidential schedule.

So far, Mr Putin has taken part in just one campaign event, meeting his followers for a question-and-answer session in Moscow in late January.

Putin's decision to run for office without party ties underlines his position as someone above the political fray in Russia, said Aleksei Venediktov, the former editor of Ekho Moskvy, a popular radio station founded after the invasion of Ukraine by the government was closed.

“Putin has declared that he has a contract with the people, not with the elites,” Mr Venediktov said said.

In 2018, Putin won almost 77 percent of the vote, a number he is expected to surpass this time, given the Kremlin's complete control over the country's political and media world.

How is the war in Ukraine progressing?

The war in Ukraine has provided an important backdrop to the presidential campaign so far. While the Russians have overwhelmingly supported the war, a to grow number narrate pollsters say they would like the conflict to end in negotiations.

While Putin has expressed support for Russian soldiers and their families, at least two other potential candidates have made the anti-war message central to their presidential bids.

With Mr Nadezhdin excluded from the vote, two candidates have now been rejected by the Central Electoral Commission.

Yekaterina Duntsova, a TV journalist and former anti-war city councilor, had her application rejected because of what she said were trivial errors in her paperwork. Some dates are filled in a different format throughout the document, she says.

Mr. Nadezhdin, a city councilor in a suburb near Moscow, was nominated by the Civic Platform party, which is not represented in the Duma, the lower house of parliament.

The elections administrator said he rejected his application because he found too many errors in the signatures he submitted. Mr Nadezhdin said he would appeal the decision.

Who else is running?

Since Putin was first elected president of Russia more than two decades ago, the Kremlin has worked hard to strengthen its control over the electoral process.

All major television networks, print media, and Internet media have gradually been placed under government control.

Most importantly, all serious rivals have been sidelined by intimidation and legal action. Aleksei A. Navalny, an opposition politician, is currently serving a 19-year sentence in a remote prison in Russia's Arctic on what his allies and legal observers say are trumped-up charges.

In elections where the outcome is seen as a foregone conclusion, the other candidates who run do so for various reasons other than winning.

Some are encouraged to do so by the Kremlin to add a veneer of legitimacy to the race, analysts say; others want to use the campaign to raise their profiles or strengthen their platforms – such as ending the war in Ukraine.

Eleven potential candidates have had their applications accepted by the Central Electoral Commission to register for the presidential race. The committee may reject applications for a variety of reasons, including if a candidate fails to collect enough signatures to endorse it. (Candidates from parties not in the Duma must collect 100,000 signatures from all over Russia, and independent parties 300,000.)

In addition to Mr. Putin, three other candidates have been nominated by political parties represented in the State Duma who do not directly challenge Mr. Putin's authority.

Leonid E. Slutsky was nominated by the Liberal Democratic Party, which, despite its official name, traditionally represented a right-wing nationalist-oriented electorate.

Vladislav A. Davankov, a Russian lawmaker, has been nominated by the New People's Party, which is business-oriented and officially liberal, but Kremlin-friendly. So far he has not published his platform.

Nikolai M. Kharitonov is registered with the Communist Party, traditionally the second strongest political force in Russia. Although the party sometimes criticizes the Kremlin's social policies, such as its reliance on liberal market policies, it has not openly campaigned against Putin in recent years. In January, Mr. Kharitonov unveiled his campaign slogan: “We have played the game of capitalism enough!”

A number of other little-known activists, including an environmental blogger, an economist and an obscure political spin doctor, had expressed interest in running but dropped out in late January.

How does voting work?

Russians will be given three days to cast their votes under a new system introduced in 2020 during the Covid pandemic that is intended to make polling stations less busy than on one voting day. Critics argue that the three-day voting makes it more difficult to ensure the process is fair and prevent fraud, such as poll workers, especially at night, when ballots are removed from the public eye.

Monitoring of the elections by outside and independent Russian groups will also be hampered by legislation restricting such activities – and by fear, as independent monitors are targeted by authorities. The head of the main non-governmental election monitoring watchdog was arrested in August.

In 29 Russian regions, including annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, people will have the opportunity to vote electronically.

In Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in 2022, people will be allowed to vote with their Ukrainian passports, the electoral commission said. There will also be 276 polling stations in 143 countries abroad.