The 2018 presidential campaign of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy of the State Duma and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, was announced on 28 October 2016. Zhirinovsky was officially nominated on 20 December 2017 at the Liberal Democratic Party's 31st annual congress. He submitted to the Central Election Commission the documents required for registration the next day. According to Mikhail Degtyarev, Zhirinovsky planned to hold the largest campaign in the history of the party. The party's objective was to get Zhirinovsky into the second round, and then win it.