[custom_adv] The announcement from Gordon, 37, came after Ksenia Sobchak -- a more prominent public figure who is the daughter of Putin's late boss and political mentor -- announced her candidacy. [custom_adv] Candidates must meet requirements in order to be placed on the ballot by the Central Election Commission before the campaign officially gets under way closer to the end of the year. [custom_adv] Gordon said that one main focus of her campaign would be the rights of single mothers in Russia. [custom_adv] "We are the country of single mothers nobody gives a damn about," she said in the statement. [custom_adv] She said that she is not "a representative of glamour and was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth" but grew up in modest circumstances, remarks that are likely to be seen as a dig at Sobchak. [custom_adv] Russian journalist and TV host Yekaterina Gordon has announced plans to run for president in a March 2018 election that is widely expected to prolong Vladimir Putin's time in the Kremlin for another six years. [custom_adv] Gordon says she has two children, a ten-year-long career in journalism and her own legal firm, which for the past five years has protected the rights of women and children. [custom_adv] "I have first-hand knowledge of how the judicial system functions in practice and how women work hard to rear their children while men dodge responsibility," Gordon said. She wants to participate in the presidential election "to speak for the women whose rights have been abused." [custom_adv] By declaring her presidential ambitions Gordon teamed up her friend turned rival for the attention of gossip columns and the Internet community Ksenia Sobchak, who on October 18 declared her intention to seek presidential nomination. [custom_adv] Russia will be electing a president on March 18, 2018. Officially, the election campaign will begin between December 7 and 17. The Central Election Commission has repeatedly said that as long as the election campaign has not begun yet, any actions by those eager to participate in the race do not fall under the operation of the election legislation. [custom_adv] To become a registered candidate in the presidential election a contender from a parliamentary party does not have to conduct a sign-up campaign, a candidate from a non-parliamentary party will have to present 100,000 signatures, and a self-nominee, 300,000 signatures. [custom_adv] Gordon’s personal website describes her as a human rights activist, poet, singer and song writer.