Boris Nadezhdin, a prominent critic of the Kremlin, has submitted the documents needed to register as a candidate for Russia’s presidential elections in March.
He shot to fame with his calls to end the war, bringing out crowds of Russians across the country eager to add their signatures to his bid to get on the ballot.
He described the war as “catastrophic” in an interview with the AFP news agency, and said he wanted to “free political prisoners” in Russia.
The 60-year-old local councillor, who has promised to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, said on Wednesday that he had collected more than 100,000 signatures of support across 40 regions and submitted them and other documents to the Central Election Commission (CEC), which is technically enough to challenge President Vladimir Putin.
Election officials will next check the authenticity of the signatures submitted by Nadezhdin and other potential candidates and announce next month who will join Putin on the ballot for the March 15-17 elections.
The electoral body has in the past uncovered what it claimed were irregularities in signatures or documents collected by some candidates and disqualified them.
Putin, who will be running as an independent rather than as the candidate of the ruling United Russia party, needs 300,000 signatures but has already collected more than 3.5 million, according to his supporters.
In December, the 71-year-old incumbent announced his decision to seek to extend his rule. He is almost certain to win a fifth term as president, extending his 24-year leadership of Russia, including eight years as prime minister.
Here are the top political news stories for today.
@ElectionLukeRepublican2yrs2Y
Meet presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin.
With an army of lawyers to avoid strict rules and check his every word, he is becoming a threat to Putin.
He has collected 100.000 signatures but continues to make sure no one finds fault and Russians are lining up to sign.
@LeftLeaningSarahGreen2yrs2Y
With all due respect, he is NOT anti-war. His stance on the current situation is EXACTLY identical to putins. Leave crimea and the rest in russia; if needed hold referendums (what?? On what base has he any right to hold referendums on Ukrainian soil?), no charges on putin etc
@ElectionLukeRepublican2yrs2Y
Source?
Because I have read quite a few today.
Remember, he cannot say anything that will get him arrested. Therefore, he will never say that he will draw back forces from Ukraine.
He has never said "leave Crimea", if he did, he is no longer a candidate.
@9JJN5C32yrs2Y
Big guns go boom boom, Russia no longer Putin’s
@9JK3T3XRepublican2yrs2Y
I think that Russia and Ukraine should stop the war.
@9JJQ3MP2yrs2Y
I think it wrong of putin to destroy ukraine
@9JJW7LJ2yrs2Y
I believe that it would be amazing if Putin wasn't reelected to end the war in ukraine.
@9JJR7YB2yrs2Y
Nuke Moscow; Hit them before they hit us
it is bad because the Russian and Ukraine war is still going on.
@9JJTZ9F2yrs2Y
I believe that it is important for the world to know
@9JJS53D2yrs2Y
It’s intense and needs to be stopped.
@9JJN59B2yrs2Y
Its a bad thing that the war is still going throughout both countries.
@9JJN6VQ2yrs2Y
Putin and dictators like him is one of the biggest danger to the developed world
@9JJQC3N2yrs2Y
The ukraine war must be stopped.
Don’t go anywhere above the ground floor in any building or drink tea or fly in a plane or grab a door knob or …………
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
How would you feel if your preferred presidential candidate was barred from the elections due to alleged 'irregularities'?
Exactly how I feel now, because that's exactly what's happening. The left is trying to bar Trump from the ballot in Colorado, Maine, tons of other states. This is the United States of America, not Russia or Ukraine. Let's have some non-third-world elections please.
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
Ah, then in that case let’s ban corporate lobbying, switch to a ranked voter system like most every normal 1st world country, make elections merit and vote based rather than wealth and connections based. Heavy investigations on all candidates need to be carried out, including on the current president, and all non-life threatening data must be public knowledge in relation to a politician’s lives and tax documents. Oh, and destroy the electoral college while we’re at it, the people decide, not a bunch of unelected officials with little regard for their constituents.
The electoral college is the last major check remaining on rampant democracy, and am important bastion of states rights and liberty that I thank God the Left has not yet destroyed. The electoral college checks the excesses of mob rule, ensures representation of the whole Confederacy instead of just the urban centres growing like ugly tumours on an otherwise healthy body. It preserves a degree of autonomy for the states and allows them to have a direct role in choosing the president. But it's not currently functioning as the Founders intended – they wanted not a winner-take-the-whol… Read more
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
The electoral college shifts the very value of a vote towards states with almost no one living there at all, and destroys any semblance of the very essence of a democratic-republic anyway. The rest of the world looks down upon an electoral college, and we’ve long since lost the need for it at all. Want the states to have more governmental power? I’m actually all for the idea of state legislatures voting in congressmen, it’s a good method of balance and allows local politicians to have more power in individual states while also allowing bodies like the senate to actually keep… Read more
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