The Central Election Commission did not allow the anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin to participate in the upcoming presidential elections. Over 9,000 signatures endorsing his bid were discarded as invalid, reported a '7x7' correspondent on February 8.
The Central Election Commission considered valid 95,587 signatures in support of Boris Nadezhdin’s presidential bid. In order to be registered as a presidential candidate, one must provide at least 100,000 signatures. Over 9,000 signatures collected by Nadezhdin’s supporters were deemed invalid due to errors.
The Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that Nadezhdin has 'a good political perspective.' The politician replied that he has no complaints about the Commission, only about legislators who adopt laws impossible to abide by.
Boris Nadezhdin is planning to dispute the Commission’s decision in the Supreme Court.
The former candidate also asked not to close his electoral account, as he wants to return money to the voters. As a rule, expenditure transactions on the account stop if a candidate has not been registered. However, the Central Election Commission may prolong the account’s validity period if an ex-candidate submits unpaid bills for provided services or goods. If Boris Nadezhdin does not hand in a financial report and close the account by himself, remaining funds might be transferred to the federal budget.
Besides Nadezhdin, the Central Election Commission denied registration to the blogger Rada Russkikh and ecological activist Anatoliy Batashev, who failed to collect the required number of signatures. The leader of the ‘Communists of Russia’ party, Nikolay Malinkovich, was not allowed to participate in the elections due to errors in signatures, much like Boris Nadezhdin.
Currently, there are four politicians who have been admitted to the 2024 elections: Vladimir Putin, who is posing as an independent candidate; the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) leader, Nikolay Kharitonov; the head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Leonid Slutsky; and Vladislav Davankov from the 'New People' party.
In December 2023, the Central Election Commission refused to register the initiative group of another anti-war candidate, Ekaterina Duntsova. After that, Duntsova supported the presidential bid of Boris Nadezhdin, a deputy from Moscow region. Nadezhdin promised to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners if he wins the elections.
