Putin challenger and war critic Boris Nadezhdin is not allowed to enter the race for the Russian presidency. The election commission’s decision comes as no surprise – and not only has to do with errors on the signature list.
As expected, Russia’s Central Election Commission will not allow the liberal opposition and war opponent Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate for the presidential vote in March. The election commission headed by Ella Pamfilova justified the rejection on Thursday in Moscow with a large number of incorrect supporter signatures. In addition to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who wants to become president for the fifth time, there are three other candidates. They are seen as hopeless candidates who either support Putin directly or have no political profile of their own.
The 60-year-old Nadezhdin was seen as the opposition’s hope for an alternative to Putin. The politician wants to challenge the election commission’s decision in the Supreme Court. “I don’t agree with the decision of the election committee,” said Nadezhdin. The signatures for him were collected openly and honestly. “I will not give up on my intentions.”
Supporters had queued for a long time in January for Nadezhdin, who wanted to run for the Citizens’ Initiative party, to submit their signatures for him as a candidate in the election from March 15th to 17th. Significantly more than the required 100,000 signatures were collected. According to the electoral commission, 9,147 of a sample of 60,000 signatures were declared invalid. That was around 15 percent with a maximum permissible value of 5 percent.
Boris Nadezhdin’s candidacy had already been ruled out
Nadezhdin was the only candidate who openly opposed Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The opposition politician received great support from many compatriots for this anti-war stance, much to the annoyance of the Kremlin. Political observers had practically ruled out Nadezhdin’s candidacy.
Incumbent Putin had the Russian constitution changed in 2020 in order to be able to run as a candidate again. His re-election is considered certain. After six years in office, according to the current constitution, he is allowed to run for the last time in 2030.
This post has been updated.
Source: Stern
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