Russia's election commission rejects Putin's challenger Boris Nadezhdin presidential bid
- Published By Jedida Barasa For The Statesman Digital
- 10 months ago
Russia's election commission has rejected anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate in next month's presidential vote.
Nadezhdin has been relatively critical of Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine when few dissenting voices have been tolerated in Russia.
Election authorities claimed more than 15% of the signatures he submitted with his candidate application were flawed.
He had tried to challenge this, but the commission rejected his bid.
Refusing to give up, Nadezhdin, 60, said on social media that he would challenge the decision in Russia's Supreme Court.
The Central Election Commission said that of the 105,000 signatures submitted by Nadezhdin, more than 9,000 were invalid and they cited a variety of violations.
That left 95,587 names, meaning he was just short of the 100,000 required signatures to register as a candidate, commission member Andrei Shutov said.
"There are tens of millions of people here who were going to vote for me, " Nadezhdin complained to the commission. "According to all polls, I am in second place after Putin."
"The decision has been made," declared commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova. "If Nadezhdin wants, he can go to court," Tass news agency quoted her as saying.
Russia's presidential election is due to take place from 15-17 March, although the result is not in doubt as only candidates viewed as acceptable to the Kremlin are running.
A final decision on who can take part in the election will come on Saturday, but the election commission chairwoman said it was already clear there would be four candidates on the ballot.
Other than Vladimir Putin, they include nationalist leader Leonid Slutsky, parliament deputy speaker Vladislav Davankov and Communist Nikolai Kharitonov. All their parties have broadly backed Kremlin policies and none of the trio is seen as a genuine challenger.
"Running for president in 2024 is the most important political decision of my life. I am not retreating from my intentions," Nadezhdin wrote on Telegram. "I collected more than 200,000 signatures across Russia. We conducted the collection openly and honestly."
Boris Nadezhdin is one of the few government critics whose voices have been heard on the ubiquitous talk shows on state-run TV since the invasion on 24 February 2022. He has appeared as a type of anti-war "whipping boy" that other guests would target for criticism.
Share on
SHARE YOUR COMMENT
MORE STORIES FOR YOU
Trending Stories
DJ Mo’s former illicit lo...
- Published By Jane
- January 15, 2024
Mapenzi! Zari and Tanasha...
- Published By Jane
- October 24, 2023
Zuchu Speaks on Diamond P...
- Published By Jane
- October 12, 2023
Hio Ni Upumbavu Wasituche...
- Published By Jane
- November 8, 2023
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
How to deal with a silent...
- Published By Jedida
- October 16, 2024
How to set yourself up fo...
- Published By Jedida
- October 16, 2024
Postpartum Hemorrhage: Si...
- Published By Jedida
- October 16, 2024
Study reveals long term e...
- Published By Jedida
- October 16, 2024
Latest Stories
Kimani Ichung’wah calls f...
- Published By Jedida
- December 23, 2024
President Ruto announces...
- Published By Jedida
- December 23, 2024
EPL 24/25: Chelsea draw 0...
- Published By Jedida
- December 23, 2024
EPL 24/25: Liverpool beat...
- Published By Jedida
- December 23, 2024