Boris Nadezhdine, the only opponent of the assault in Ukraine in the running for the Russian presidential election, submitted on Wednesday the signatures of support necessary to register his candidacy for the election scheduled for March 15-17.
“Signatures submitted
,” validated a member of the Electoral Commission, according to an AFP journalist on site.
Little known to the general public, this veteran of Russian political life, who advocates
“the end”
of the assault in Ukraine and denounces the authoritarian drift of Vladimir Putin, has aroused an unexpected enthusiasm in recent days, tens of thousands of Russians mobilizing to support his candidacy.
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“Thank you very much to those who believed in us
,” declared this former Liberal MP to the press.
“Everything went well
,” he stressed, regarding the collection of signatures from more than 100,000 voters supporting him, the threshold necessary to see his candidacy validated by the authorities.
On Wednesday, he even handed over 105,000 to the Central Electoral Commission, Nadejdine told the press.
The Electoral Commission should for its part rule on Nadejdine's candidacy in the next 10 days, knowing that there is, in addition to the number of signatures, a question of quota per administrative entity to be respected.
Opportunity to protest against the opposition
Several hundred Muscovites had lined up in recent days to sign in favor of Nadezhdine, a legal means for them to demonstrate their direct opposition to the Kremlin's policies, in a country where any dissident voice is severely repressed.
At 60 years old, however, the person concerned has few illusions about the result of the presidential election, as the re-election of Vladimir Putin, in power since 2000, seems obvious.
“But I hope that March 17 will perhaps mark the end, the beginning of the end of the Putin era
,” he confided in an interview with AFP a few days ago.
“My candidacy gives people a unique opportunity to legally protest against current policy
,” said this former advisor to Boris Nemtsov, an opponent assassinated in 2015.
It is difficult to know how far this elected official from a town on the outskirts of Moscow can go, but the Kremlin in any case does not hide its disdain towards him:
“We do not consider him as a competitor
,” Dmitri recently said. Peskov, spokesperson for Vladimir Putin.