There are signs that war opponent Boris Nadezhdin will be excluded from Russia’s presidential elections. As Nadezhdin announced on Monday, he was told by the election commission that 15 percent of the signatures he submitted for his candidacy were invalid. That would be three times as much as allowed.
If he is excluded from the elections, he wants to take action against it in the Supreme Court, Nadezhdin wrote on Telegram. A decision should be announced on Wednesday, his spokesman said. As the party’s nominated candidate, Nadezhdin had to collect 100,000 signatures in at least 40 Russian regions to participate in the March 15-17 elections.
President Vladimir Putin, who has decided to run as an independent party rather than as a candidate for the ruling United Russia party, needs 300,000 signatures. According to his followers, he has already collected more than 3.5 million.
Nadezhdin criticizes Putin’s war
Putin’s victory is considered certain. Nadezhdin, however, surprised some observers with his sharp criticism of what the government called a “special military operation” war against Ukraine. Recently, after numerous heating failures in the cold winter, he criticized the fact that Russia could afford to spend more on its citizens if it did not invest so much money in the military.
His outspoken comments about the war have fueled speculation that he could be barred from running or forced to resign, citing a technicality.
Putin wants to strengthen his power
To be registered, Nadezhdin would have to have about 4,500 of the 9,209 disputed signatures re-recognized. The incumbent Putin wants to be re-elected for the fifth time in the presidential elections – and had the Russian constitution rewritten specifically for this purpose in 2020. The Kremlin does not need a large audience for an explicit opponent of its war of aggression.
Source: Krone
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