The only candidate who advocated peace with Ukraine will finally not be able to run in the presidential elections that will be held on March 15, 16 and 17 in Russia.
Veteran
politician Boris Nadezhdin
announced this Thursday that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC)
had refused to register him
to run in the elections and face the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, whose re-election is more than certain.
Before announcing what happened in a Telegram message, the Commission explained that it had found
too many invalid signatures
among the 105,000 that Nadezhdin's team presented on January 31.
Every candidate who runs for election without a party behind them with representation in Parliament must collect a certain number of endorsements.
Those, like Nadezhdin, who have extra-parliamentary political training (Civic Initiative)
had to present 100,000 valid endorsements.
Of the signatures supporting Nadezhdin, the Electoral Commission
declared 9,147 invalid.
That represents more than 5% allowed to register the candidate.
Of the signatures supporting Nadezhdin, the Electoral Commission declared 9,147 invalid.
Photo: EFE
After learning this information, the politician proposed to the CEC
to postpone the decision on his registration.
But its president, Ella Pamfilova, explained that the body is obliged to move forward and cannot adapt to the needs of a particular candidate.
The official deadline to accept or reject candidates' registration is
February 10.
"The most important decision of my life"
The already rejected candidate showed his disagreement with the decision on his Telegram channel.
"I do not agree with the decision of the Electoral Commission (...)
I will appeal to the Supreme Court of Russia
," he promised.
"I have collected
more than 200,000 signatures across Russia
. We have done the collection in an open and honest way: the queues at our offices and collection points
were seen all over the world
," he explained.
"Taking part in the 2024 presidential elections
is the most important political decision of my life
. I am not going to give up my intentions."
"Taking part in the 2024 presidential elections is the most important political decision of my life. I am not going to resign," said the candidate.
Photo: EFE
On the same day , the Commission
also denied registration as a candidate to Sergei Malikovich,
a candidate for the Communists of Russia party, a small party that split from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2012.
When 60,000 signatures had been verified,
officials certified that there were 8,979 invalid signatures,
already exceeding the 5% allowed.
Pamfilova said the decision "was made unanimously."
At the moment, the Russian Electoral Commission
has registered four presidential candidates
for next month's presidential elections.
Leonid Slutski,
leader of the nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party;
Nikolai Kharitonov
, for the Communist Party;
and
Vladislav Davankov
, from Gente Nueva, did not have to present signatures of support because they are supported by their parties, with parliamentary representation.
The fourth is Vladimir Putin
.
The Russian president decided to run as an independent, without the support of his party, United Russia, and had to gather 300,000 signatures.
He submitted them at the end of January and was registered.
An uncomfortable surprise for the Kremlin
The figure of Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old veteran politician little known in Russia,
became a surprise
in January, when
thousands of Russians began to line up to give him their support
, both inside the country and in some offices installed in the outside.
Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old political veteran little known in Russia, became a surprise.
Photo: Reuters
The absence of a substantive opposition to Putin
, most of whose representatives are in prison or in exile
, allowed such an attraction.
Some important figures, such as the exiled former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky or the team of the imprisoned Alexei Navalni,
showed their support.
But above all he has told
of his critical position towards the Kremlin's policy in Ukraine
.
As a candidate he has promised
the end of the war and the return of the mobilized
.
When talking about the "special military operation", the official name given to the conflict, he said that it seemed to him "a fatal mistake."
He also promised the release of Russia's political prisoners.
With liberal positions (at the beginning of the century he was a deputy for the now defunct Union of Right Forces),
today he is a councilor in Dolgoprudni,
a city of 120,000 inhabitants 20 kilometers from Moscow.
Despite this position, some voices critical of the Kremlin have suggested that Nadezhdin, who has regularly participated as a guest on television programs about the conflict, could not have gotten here if power had not allowed it, something he has denied. .
Yekaterina Duntsova.
Photo: Arden Arkman / AFP
In fact, another anti-war candidate, journalist Yekaterina Duntsova, was disqualified by the CEC in December, citing defects in the application and documents submitted to register as a candidate for the elections.
By Gonzalo Aragonés, Moscow correspondent of La Vanguardia