MOSCOW: Russia’s registration of candidates for the presidential polls has closed, local media reported on Sunday, with a list including President Putin, who is likely to win, and three politicians who all support war in Ukraine.
However, the list did not include the Russian anti-war contender Boris Nadezhdin following the Central Election Commission (CEC) stopped him on Thursday from running, adding it had found several flaws in the collection of signatures needed for the support of his application.
The Central Election Commission registered Vladislav Davankov, Leonid Slutsky, and Nikolai Kharitonov, local media reported.
Russia Closes Presidential Race Contender Registration with Putin, 3 Others: Reports
Putin, who has chosen to run as an independent rather than as the contender of the United Russia party and who has been Russia’s supreme leader since 2000 and controls all the state’s devices, is likely to easily win next month’s elections.
While no one has expected Nadezhdin – who has characterized President Putin’s war in Kyiv as a “fatal mistake” – to win, his sharp criticism has also surprised some analysts. Nadezhdin stated on Thursday that he would challenge the Central Election Commission’s decision in Supreme Court.
