Russian election officials reject antiwar politician's bid to oppose Putin in next month's vote

Source: Associated Press

Russian election officials reject antiwar politician’s bid to oppose Putin in next month’s vote

BY DASHA LITVINOVA
Updated 11:18 AM EST, February 8, 2024

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Antiwar politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected Thursday as a candidate in next month’s presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it won’t tolerate any public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

The move by the Central Election Commission provides an even smoother path for President Vladimir Putin to win a fifth term in power. He faces only token opposition from pro-Kremlin candidates in the March 15-17 vote and is all but certain to win, given his tight control of Russia’s political system.

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% of their submitted signatures thrown out.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-presidential-election-putin-ukraine-candidate-3267d751005003ba3a0aaf3c9faa6517