Russian authorities cast doubt on antiwar hopeful’s election bid

Russian officials accused Boris Nadezhdin to have submitted invalid signatures to run against President Putin in March.

The  Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia has found flaws in documents backing Boris Nadezhdin’s bid to run in next month’s presidential vote, he has said.

The CEC informed the aspiring antiwar candidate on Monday that it had found 15 percent of the signatures he submitted to access the electoral race to be invalid, Nadezhdin said. The commission could now block his bid to enter the election.

The municipal councillor, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, has caught the attention of Russia’s small opposition forces with promises to end the war in Ukraine. He has virtually no chance of unseating Putin, but it is thought that authorities would not welcome a candidate who would introduce antiwar rhetoric in the race for the March 15 election.

Nadezhdin, running on the ticket of the small centre-right Civic Initiative party, last week submitted the 100,000 signatures required to register.

However, the CEC does not tolerate more than a 5 percent error.