As of: January 30, 2024, 5:20 p.m
By: Alexandra Heidsiek
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Press
Split
The elections in Russia are approaching.
Now another candidate for president is throwing in the towel.
Putin's re-election is considered a given.
Moscow - A month and a half before the Russian election, an applicant gave up before he was officially registered and is instead campaigning for the re-election of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
Sergei Baburin (64) from the All-Russian People's Union party first brought several boxes to the Central Election Commission that allegedly contained the around 100,000 citizens' signatures needed for a candidacy.
A little later, however, he announced that he would withdraw his application.
Baburin officially justified his sudden change of heart with the war in Ukraine.
“In this difficult hour for the homeland, it is not time to divide the forces of the people,” Baburin said, according to the state news agency
Tass
.
The nationalist politician did not explain why he then announced his candidacy and even had signatures collected.
Sergei Baburin, former candidate for president in Russia, in the Central Election Committee.
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/dpa
Baburin is not running against Putin in the Russian election
The prominent journalist Alexei Venediktov suspected that Baburin had received a request from the power apparatus to give up.
“He was gently advised not to take even one percent from the president,” Venediktov, the former editor-in-chief of the now-closed Kremlin-critical radio station
Echo Moskvy
, wrote on Telegram.
The Russian presidential election on March 17th is already overshadowed by allegations of manipulation and, from the Kremlin's perspective, serves primarily to secure Putin a fifth term in office.
It is also intended to demonstrate the supposedly unbroken social support for Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine.
Other applicants are considered to have no chance or even support Putin.
According to observers, they are primarily intended to suggest a choice that doesn't actually exist.
War opponent Nadezhdin wants to challenge Putin in the Russian election
The only thing that is eagerly awaited is what will happen to Boris Nadezhdin - the only candidate who openly speaks out against the war.
In recent days, people have been lining up in many Russian cities to sign for Nadezhdin's candidacy.
But many fear that the Russian election commission will use a pretext to throw the war opponent out of the race.
(dpa, ah)