Director of the Lenin state farm Pavel Grudinina (Source: Reuters)

The party nominated Pavel Grudinin, a largely unknown businessman with links to the farming sector, deciding to drop longtime leader Gennady Zyuganov, who had contested the five last presidential elections.

The party said on its website that the decision was made during an annual gathering of the party on December 23.

Grudinin, 57, is a mechanical engineer who has run a farm near Moscow since the 1990s.