Kasyanov was nominated at a People's Democratic Union congress on Friday, nine days after the presidential race formally kicked off in Russia. Under the Constitution, the current president, Vladimir Putin, is forbidden from seeking a third term.
"We are entering the fight... I will see it through until the end," Kasyanov said.
Kasyanov, who was Russian prime minister from May 2000 through February 2004, pledged to halt increasing social inequality in Russia, and promote competition and entrepreneurship if he becomes president. He also said he would dissolve the current parliament, elected during widely-criticized elections on December 2.
"Most importantly, however, we will give people freedom," he said.
However, despite Kasyanov's apparent confidence, the ex-premier enjoys minuscule levels of support amongst the Russian electorate. Heavily associated with the Yeltsin years, which saw widespread hardship in the country, Kasyanov would realistically do well to gain 5% of the vote in any presidential poll.
The contender will now have to submit the necessary documents, including income and property certificates, to the Central Election Commission before December 18. If approved by the commission, he will be required to produce at least 2 million signatures in support of his application to run in next year's polls.
Around 100 members of pro-Putin groups gathered outside the building where the action group was meeting to demonstrate against the man commonly know in Russia as "Misha two-percent," a reference to bribery allegations concerning his time in office. Misha is the diminutive version of the Russian name Mikhail.
Other politicians who have already announced their intention to run in the 2008 presidential elections include Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communists, and the head of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, which received some 65% of the vote at the recent parliamentary elections, is set to name its candidate for the presidential elections at a special party congress on 17 December.
Liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, ex-first deputy premier Boris Nemtsov, Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, recently jailed for five days following an opposition march, have also spoken about entering the election race, but they, too, like Kasyanov, have no realistic chance of garnering popular support.
