Russian opposition member Boris Nadezhdin is banned from running in the presidential elections. The electoral council has excluded him from participating, reports ‘The Moscow Times’. “Errors” were allegedly found in the signatures he had to collect to get on the ballot.
Nadezhdin submitted almost 105,000 signatures, but only 95,587 of them were declared valid. He needed 100,000 to be officially registered. “The number of reliable signatures was not enough,” said the chairman of the electoral commission.
The opposition member now wants to challenge that decision before the Russian Supreme Court, in the hope that he will still be allowed to face President Vladimir Putin. “Participating in the 2024 presidential elections is the most important political decision of my life. I will not go back on my intentions,” he said via Telegram.
End of war
Relatively unknown to the general public, Nadezhdin is a veteran of Russian politics. He was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against Putin in recent weeks. If it were up to him, he would immediately end the war in Ukraine. Russians publicly lined up to sign autographs for him.
The elections will take place from March 15 to 17. Putin then wants to be re-elected for the fifth time. To this end, he had the constitution amended in 2020. The Kremlin cannot accept major support for an explicit opponent of the war in Ukraine.
LOOK. Putin’s only challenger collected 100,000 signatures
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