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Boris Nadezhdin was seen as the hope of the opposition.
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
Many observers had ruled out a candidacy by war opponent Nadezhdin in the presidential election in Russia from the outset.
Now the electoral commission has officially rejected the Liberals.
Moscow - In Russia, the liberal opposition figure and anti-war Boris Nadezhdin will not be accepted as a candidate in the presidential election in March.
The election commission headed by Ella Pamfilova justified the expected rejection in Moscow with a large number of incorrect supporter signatures.
In addition to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who wants to become president for the fifth time, there are three other candidates.
They are seen as hopeless candidates who either support Putin directly or have no political profile of their own.
Nadezhdin was seen as the hope of the opposition
The 60-year-old Nadezhdin was seen as the opposition's hope for an alternative to Putin.
“You are not rejecting me, but tens of millions of people who are hoping for change,” Nadezhdin said after the decision.
The politician wants to challenge the election commission's decision in the Supreme Court.
“I do not agree with the election management’s decision.” The signatures for him were collected openly and honestly.
“I'm not giving up on my intentions.” Nadezhdin said he expects votes in the double-digit percentage range in the election.
Supporters of Nadezhdin, who wanted to run for the Citizens' Initiative party, lined up in wintry weather in January to submit their signatures for him to be a candidate in the March 15-17 election.
The people would have shown the whole world that they wanted a peaceful and free Russia.
“I have never seen my compatriots as inspired, joyful and free as in our queues,” said Nadezhdin.
It is considered certain that the Kremlin-controlled Supreme Court will confirm the election commission's decision.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the election committee's decision that it had been made in accordance with the rules.
Official statement from the Electoral Commission
The collection for Nadezhdin resulted in significantly more than the required 100,000 signatures.
According to the electoral commission, 9,147 of a sample of 60,000 signatures have now been declared invalid.
Eleven names of the deceased were also included, it was said.
That was around 15 percent invalid signatures with a maximum permissible value of 5 percent.
Nadezhdin was the only candidate who openly opposed Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine.
The opposition politician received great support from many compatriots for this anti-war stance, much to the annoyance of the Kremlin.
Political observers had therefore practically ruled out Nadezhdin's candidacy.
The Russian political scientist Andrei Pertsev said that the politician had no chance of being accepted as a candidate from the outset.
The Kremlin wants to organize an election that is as quiet as possible for Putin - without disruptions.
“Unpleasant surprise” for the Kremlin
The many signatures for Nadezhdin were already an “unpleasant surprise” for the Kremlin, Pertsev wrote in an analysis for the independent Russian portal “Meduza”.
The Kremlin also did not want to allow the opposition to end up in second place after Putin and thus do better than the candidates from the parties represented in parliament.
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In addition to Putin, the communist Nikolai Kharitonov will also be on the ballot;
the head of the ultranationalist LDPR party, Leonid Slutsky, and Vladislav Davankov, a representative of the Duma New People party, stand.
With the exception of Slutsky, the leaders of the five parliamentary parties decided not to take part in the election.
The ruling United Russia party and the Kremlin-affiliated Just Russia party directly support Putin.
Opposition calls for protest vote
The opposition around the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, which had supported Nadezhdin, called for a protest vote against Putin.
“A circus is being planned in March that has nothing in common with an election,” said Navalny’s confidant Leonid Volkov in exile in the Baltics.
The Kremlin's goal is to give Putin a “day of celebration” with a high result.
The Kremlin has once again managed to disappoint people and create a feeling of powerlessness.
Volkov and exiled Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky called on people to go to the polls at noon on March 17 and show that they are against Putin.
Khodorkovsky said they should wear blue and white as a sign of their opposition to Putin's war against Ukraine.
Incumbent Putin had the Russian constitution changed in 2020 in order to be able to run as a candidate again.
His re-election is considered certain.
After six years in office, according to the current constitution, he is allowed to run for the last time in 2030.
dpa