Russian electoral commission rejects candidate Boris Nadezhdin's presidential bid
Russia's main election authority on Thursday refused to allow a politician opposing Moscow's military action in Ukraine to appear on the ballot in this year's presidential election, Euronews reports.
Boris Nadezhdin, a local legislator in a town near Moscow, was required by law to gather at least 100,000 signatures in support of candidacy. The requirement applies to candidates put forward by political parties that are not represented in the Russian parliament.
The Central Election Commission declared more than 9,000 signatures submitted by Nadezhdin's campaign invalid, which was enough to disqualify him. Russia's election rules say potential candidates can have no more than 5% of their submitted signatures thrown out.
Nadezhdin is the second pro-peace hopeful to be denied a presidential bid. In December, the election commission refused to certify the candidacy of Yekaterina Duntsova, a journalist and a former legislator from the Tver region north of Moscow, citing problems such as spelling errors in her nomination paperwork.
Promoting a vision of a Russia "that's peaceful, friendly and ready to cooperate with everyone on the principle of respect," Duntsova said she wanted the fighting in Ukraine to come to a swift end and for Moscow and Kyiv to come to the negotiating table.
The presidential election is scheduled for March 15-17. President Vladimir Putin is almost certain to win the reelection given his tight control of Russia's political system. Most of the opposition figures who might have challenged him have been either imprisoned or exiled abroad, and the vast majority of independent Russian media outlets have been banned.
