Russian voters will cast their ballots on Sunday to choose a new president from five candidates vying for the top job, with incumbent Prime Minister Vladimir Putin heavily favored to win his third presidential term.

The following is a brief profile of presidential candidate Sergei Mironov, leader of A Just Russia party:

Born in the northwestern city of Pushkin on Feb. 14, 1953, Mironov served in the airborne troops in the Soviet Army during the 1970s.

He graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute in 1980 and later obtained three other degrees respectively from the St. Petersburg State Technical University, the Academy of the State Service at the President of the Russian Federation and the St. Petersburg State University.

From 1986 to 1991, Mironov worked in Mongolia on expeditions.

He entered politics in 1994 when he was elected deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. In 1995, he was then chosen the first vice chairman of the legislature.

In 2001, he entered the Russian Federal Council, the upper house of the parliament, as a representative of St. Petersburg.

From 2001 to 2011, Mironov served as chairman of the upper house. However, he was recalled from his post in May 2011 by St. Petersburg's Legislative Assembly due to his public spat with St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko.

In October 2006, Mironov was elected the leader of the newly-founded opposition party A Just Russia and was re-elected in 2008.

In June 2011, he officially became the head of the parliamentary group of the center-left party in the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament.

Mironov ran for the country's president in 2004, but only secured less than 1 percent of the votes.

In the pre-election campaign, Mironov said he wanted to be a president for a two-year transitional period and then dismiss the State Duma and call a new presidential election. He also supported the idea of partially shifting powers from the president to the parliament.

He has been married three times and has two children.