Russian election officials reject anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin’s bid to oppose Putin
- Move by Central Election Commission blocking Nadezhdin’s bid provides an even smoother path for President Vladimir Putin to win a fifth term
- Putin faces only token opposition from pro-Kremlin candidates in the March 15-17 vote. Nadezhdin has called for a halt to the war in Ukraine
Anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected on Thursday as a candidate in next month’s presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it will not tolerate any public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
Nadezhdin, a local legislator in a town near Moscow, had needed to gather at least 100,000 signatures of supporters – a requirement that applies to candidates of political parties that are not represented in the Russian parliament.
The Central Election Commission declared that more than 9,000 signatures submitted by Nadezhdin’s campaign were invalid, which was enough to disqualify him. Russia’s election rules say potential candidates can have no more than 5 per cent of their submitted signatures thrown out.