Russia's Central Election Commission has dismissed Boris Nadezhdin, an anti-war challenger, as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for next month.
Nadezhdin, who has been vocal in his criticism of Vladimir Putin's military campaign in Ukraine, faced scrutiny from the election commission, which claimed that over 15% of the signatures on his candidate application were flawed. Despite Nadezhdin's attempts to contest this assertion, the commission upheld its decision, rejecting his bid.
Undeterred, Nadezhdin announced on social media his intention to challenge the commission's ruling in Russia's Supreme Court, maintaining that he had collected over 200,000 signatures across the country transparently and honestly.
According to the Central Election Commission, out of the signatures submitted by Nadezhdin, more than 9,000 were deemed invalid, leaving him with 95,587 valid signatures—just shy of the required 100,000 to register as a candidate.
Russia's presidential election is scheduled for March 15-17, but the outcome is widely expected to favour candidates approved by the Kremlin. The final decision on the list of candidates eligible to participate in the election will be announced on Saturday.
Despite facing obstacles, Nadezhdin has been one of the few government critics to appear on state-run TV talk shows since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. Notably, opposition figure Alexei Navalny has supported Nadezhdin's campaign from his prison cell in the Arctic Circle.
Nadezhdin's platform has centred on ending the war in Ukraine and restoring normal relations between Russia and the Western community. However, his aspirations have faced scepticism from some opposition figures, and his presidential bid echoes the fate of former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova, who was barred from running in December due to mistakes on her application form, according to the election commission.
