presidential election
Russian war critic appeals after exclusion
With his anti-war stance, Boris Nadezhdin received great support from many of his compatriots, much to the Kremlin’s annoyance. photo
© Dmitry Serebryakov/AP/dpa
The Supreme Court in Russia has rejected war critic Boris Nadezhdin’s lawsuit seeking admission to the presidential election. But the liberal doesn’t want to give up.
The Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin has responded to the rejection of his lawsuit seeking approval of his candidacy for the Presidential election appeal announced. “I will appeal this decision within five days,” the well-known war critic wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday evening. The Central Election Commission in Russia rejected Nadezhdin’s candidacy two weeks ago due to allegedly incorrect supporter signatures, after which Nadezhdin appealed to the Supreme Court. In the March election, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to be confirmed in office for another six years.
The Supreme Court’s reasoning has not yet been published. However, the decision was expected. The judges had previously rejected two other lawsuits from the 60-year-old due to technical issues surrounding his rejection. Nadezhdin has also appealed against this. He himself was not present at the hearing. According to his own statements, he is currently on a family vacation abroad. Nadezhdin’s success in the appeal is considered unlikely.
Kremlin reacts angrily
The politician caused a sensation in January with his signature collection. With his anti-war stance, he received great support from many compatriots, much to the Kremlin’s annoyance. Images of Russians lining up to support Nadezhdin reflected many people’s dissatisfaction with the war of aggression against Ukraine. According to his own statements, instead of collecting the necessary 100,000 supporter signatures, he collected twice the number, although he was still only allowed to submit 105,000 of them for review. Political observers had practically ruled out Nadezhdin’s candidacy because of his success in collecting signatures.
In addition to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who wants to become president for the fifth time, three other candidates are now running in the election. They are seen as hopeless candidates who either support Putin directly or have no political profile of their own. Putin had the constitution changed in 2020 so that he could be re-elected.