CNN reports, “Anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin has been barred from standing in Russia’s presidential election next month, in a move that further clears the country’s political landscape of opponents to Vladimir Putin. The decision was made during a ruling on Thursday by the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Russia, the body tasked with registering and verifying potential candidates.”
Nadezhdin, a former State Duma MP who intended to run as an independent candidate from the Civic Initiative party positions himself as the one presidential hopeful willing to openly oppose the invasion of Ukraine. According to the CEC, he had only gotten 95,000 signatures of the 100,000 needed to be registered as a candidate; Nadezhdin disputes the numbers. He says he received 105,000 signatures and the CEC said 10,000 of those signatures were invalid..
Nadezhdin last month told CNN that his family feared for his safety, in a reference to the sidelining of those who oppose Putin. He said that after “a very big discussion with my family,” he decided to stand for election. After considering the issue, “we decided this for my family and for my children, for my grandchildren, (it) will be better if Russia will be peace(ful) and (a) free country.”