According to his own statements, Putin opponent Boris Nadezhdin will not be allowed to run in the presidential election in Russia next month. The electoral authority rejected his candidacy, Nadezhdin said online on Thursday. Nadezhdin, a critic of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, said he would challenge the decision in court.
According to his own statements, Putin’s opponent had previously been informed by the election commission that 15 percent of the signatures he submitted for candidacy were invalid. That would be three times as much as allowed. He announced that if he were excluded from the election, he would take action against it in the Supreme Court. As a party-nominated candidate, Nadezhdin had to collect 100,000 signatures in at least 40 Russian regions to compete in the March 15-17 election. President Vladimir Putin needs 300,000 signatures. According to his followers, he has already raised over 3.5 million.
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