The Russian supreme court, on Monday (Mar 4) upheld a ruling which barred anti-war presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin from contesting in the upcoming election. This comes weeks after Nadezhdin had conceded saying he does not have a chance to appear on the March ballot.
Russian supreme court ruling
Nadezhdin, 60, had filed an appeal against a decision taken by Russia’s Central Election Commission to bar him from being registered for running against incumbent President Vladimir Putin in the upcoming election.
“We’re now writing a complaint to the presidium of the Supreme Court. From there we’re only one step away from the Constitutional Court,” said the 60-year-old city council member in the town of Dolgoprudny, in a post on Telegram. He added, “For now, we are guided by Russian law.”
“I’m not going to stop, I’ll fight until the end,” said Nadezhdin. The anti-war presidential hopeful was nominated by the Civic Initiative party to oppose the incumbent president who is running virtually unopposed for his fifth term which will keep him in power until 2030.
The 60-year-old has been a vocal critic of the war in Ukraine and garnered support among Russians who also oppose it. The latest rejection comes after the Russian apex court had rejected two other appeals Nadezhdin lodged after the Central Election Commission’s decision to bar him.
Why is he barred from contesting the election?
Russian election law requires candidates to attain at least 100,000 signatures to qualify to run for the presidency. The 60-year-old had garnered 105,000 signatures with opposing the war in Ukraine being a key part of his campaign.
However, in late February, the Central Election Commission declared more than 9,000 of the signatures submitted by Nadezhdin’s campaign invalid, which was enough to get him disqualified from the race.
Over the years, Russian elections tightly controlled by the Kremlin, have reportedly been marred by the exclusion of opposition candidates, voter intimidation, and even ballot stuffing.
Before he was disqualified, Nadezhdin had run an effective campaign and garnered attention for his anti-war stance by calling it a “fatal mistake” and criticism of Putin.
So far, four candidates, including the Russian president, have been approved to contest in the March elections which will be held between 15 and 17.
However, the three candidates have not criticised Putin and are said to be from Kremlin-friendly parties represented in parliament and are viewed by many as token contenders.
(With inputs from agencies)
