MOSCOW, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian voters are expected to cast their ballots in a presidential election on Sunday to choose a successor to President Vladimir Putin, who will step down after eight years in office.

    Four candidates will compete in the upcoming elections. They are Dmitry Medvedev, endorsed by Putin, Gennady Zyuganov, nominated by the Communist Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, nominated by the Liberal Democratic Party and Andrei Bogdanov, an independent candidate and leader of the Democratic Party.

    Following is a brief profile of Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov:

    Andrei Bogdanov was born on January 31, 1970 in Mozhaysk, near Moscow, and graduated from the Russian Academy of Economics.

Russian presidential candidate Andrei Bogdanov, leader of the Democratic Party, holds a news conference in Moscow Feb. 27, 2008. Russians will vote for a new president on March 2. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan) Photo Gallery>>>

    As a self-nominated candidate, he was registered on the basis of voters' signatures.

    He started his political career in 1990 as a regular member of the Democratic Party of Russia.

    In November 1991, he was elected Chairman of the party's Youth Alliance and joined the party's Political Council.

    In 1993, he participated in the Constitutional Conference undertaken to design the Constitution of Russia.

    In 2005, at the 19th party congress, he was elected leader of the Democratic Party of Russia and Chairman of its Central Committee.

    Bogdanov is married and has three sons.