As of: January 29, 2024, 8:12 p.m
By: Nils Hinsberger
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Putin's candidacy for the presidential elections has been confirmed.
Boris Nadezhdin is considered the most promising opposition candidate - but does he even have a chance?
Moscow – Not surprisingly, incumbent President Vladimir Putin has been admitted to the upcoming elections in Russia.
What initially sounds unsurprising is being sold as big news in Russia, reports
ntv
.
However, Putin is not the first approved candidate.
Three candidates have already been approved who either have no chance against Putin or would support him.
There seems to be no real competition so far.
One person who wants to put an end to Putin's reign is the opposition politician and Kremlin critic Boris Nadezhdin.
In order to take part in the election, he still needs 100,000 valid signatures from all 40 Russian regions, writes
Politico
.
Of course, Putin had long since submitted the signatures.
But will the Putin government even allow real competition?
Nadezhdin gets unusually far in his application for the Russian election
If you ask Nadezhdin, it could only be divine providence that his campaign has not yet been stopped by the Putin government.
“You can call it God or fate, but there is a tangible force driving my campaign,” says the presidential candidate.
And it actually seems to work comparatively smoothly for him.
Another opposition figure, Yekaterina Duntsova, has already been disqualified due to alleged errors in her application documents.
The opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin wants to challenge Putin.
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
The fact that the lawyer and human rights activist Nadezhdin has come this far seems surprising, especially given his stance on the war in Ukraine.
He described Putin's attack against Ukraine as a "fatal mistake".
Despite his rejection, he calls the war a “special military operation,” a term that Putin uses to trivialize and legitimize the cruel acts of war.
Nadezhdin is criticized by many for this.
In addition, the opposition activist is campaigning against the recently passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Russia.
As a result, all members of the LGBTQ+ scene are viewed as extremists by the Russian justice system.
Nadezhdin collects more than twice as many signatures as necessary
According to
ntv,
Nadezhdin has already collected over 200,000 signatures for his candidacy.
This means he has achieved more than twice the number of signatures required.
Supporters sometimes waited in long queues to sign.
Actually a good sign;
According to analysts, Nadezhdin's wave of success is above all a sign of the Russian population's increasing dissatisfaction with the Kremlin and the war against Ukraine.
There could also be a tactical reason why Nadezhdin collected so many signatures.
The electoral commission repeatedly declares signatures invalid due to formal complaints.
Nadezhdin himself appears confident.
So far, the presidential administration has not invited him “to tea,” Nadezhdin told
Politico
.
“It’s a sign that they don’t know what to do with me,” he said.
“God is on my side.”
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However, a victory for the opposition politician is very unlikely.
According to international observers, Putin is virtually already the winner.
His renewed presidency also seems to have been planned for a long time.
The fact that he is running for the fifth time is only possible because of a constitutional change from 2020 that could ensure his stay in power until 2036.
(nhi)