Russian anti-war candidate banned from Presidential elections. “Millions wanted to vote for me. We will appeal.”

The only anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin has been barred from participating in the Russian presidential election scheduled to be held from the 15th till the 17th of March.    

According to Russian law, to be registered as a presidential candidate, one has to submit to the Central Election Commission 100,000 signatures minimum in one’s support from ordinary Russian citizens. 

Russia’s Central Election Commission confirmed they received 104, 734 signatures in support of Mr Nadezhdin. After reviewing  60,000 of them, 9,147  were branded as “invalid” based on different mistakes and inaccuracies the Commission said were found. 

Boris Nadezhdin - the 60-year-old academic and a politician - was not surprised by such a decision: 

“Dozens of millions of people want to vote for me. According to all the polls, I’m the second most popular candidate after Putin”. - Nadezhdin said publicly right after the decision to ban him was announced. - “But we expected such a decision. We have 10 days to appeal in the High Court of Russia,” he added. 

Boris Nadezhdin openly proclaimed that he does not support Vladimir Putin’s politics and said that Putin leads Russia to a “catastrophe”. The invasion of Ukraine Nadezhdin called “a fatal mistake”. During his election campaign, he has also personally met with the mothers and wives of the Russian mobilized soldiers, who are demanding their husbands and sons be returned from the front line.

In the atmosphere when any opposition is actively suppressed and destroyed, Nadezhdin’s anti-war stance was seen as a gasp of fresh air and attracted millions of supporters all over the country. For days Russians stood in long lines and traveled hundreds of kilometers just to sign up for Nadezhdin - the sign up for him was a legal way to oppose the authorities. 

The 38-year-old businessman from Murmansk, who asked to remain anonymous due to security reasons, told The Barents Observer that he was among those who left the signature in support of Nadezhdin because of his anti-war position: 

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“I supported Nadezhdin because he was very clearly calling to stop the war in Ukraine. In my opinion, this position is close not only to me but to many Russians”, - the businessman told The Barents Observer on the phone. - “I feel sorry, there was a little hope… But I’m not surprised that he is banned. Imagine if he was officially registered as a candidate. According to Russian electoral law, they would have to provide him with a certain time on state TV. Can you imagine a person calling to stop the war on Russian state TV? I can’t!”

Meanwhile, Nadezhdin addressed all those who left signatures for him on his Telegram channel today: 

“Don’t give up. Many people felt the possibility of change in Russia. You have been standing in all those lines to show the whole world: “Russia will become a great, peaceful, and free country”. I have appealed to the Comission the decision to ban me and I was promised to get an answer”.