Russian anti-war politician Nadezh blocked from running against Putin : NPR

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Antiwar politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected Thursday as a candidate in next month’s presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it won’t tolerate any public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

The move by the Central Election Commission provides an even smoother path for President Vladimir Putin to win a fifth term in power. He faces only token opposition from pro-Kremlin candidates in the March 15-17 vote and is all but certain to win, given his tight control of Russia’s political system.

Nadezhdin, a local legislator in a town near Moscow, had needed to gather at least 100,000 signatures of supporters — a requirement that applies to candidates of political parties that are not represented in the Russian parliament.

The Central Election Commission declared that more than 9,000 signatures submitted by Nadezhdin’s campaign were invalid, which was enough to disqualify him. Russia’s election rules say potential candidates can have no more than 5% of their submitted signatures thrown out.

He has openly called for a halt to the nearly 2-year-old war in Ukraine and for starting a dialogue with the West. Thousands of Russians lined up across the country last month to sign papers supporting his candidacy, an unusual show of opposition sympathies in the rigidly controlled political landscape.

The 60-year-old Nadezhdin, whose name is a form of the Russian word for “hope,” gave a sense of optimism to those opposing the war, and many of them stood in bitterly cold temperatures across the country last month to sign petitions.

Starting peace talks with Kyiv was among his campaign promises, as was the idea that Russia is not “a besieged fortress” and needs to pivot toward working with the West rather than being in a confrontation with it.

Speaking to officials at the election commission Thursday, Nadezhdin had asked them to postpone their decision, but they declined. He said he would appeal his disqualification in court.

“It’s not me standing here,” Nadezhdin said. “Hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens who put their signatures down for me are behind me.”

Putin is running as an independent candidate, and his campaign was required to gather at least 300,000 signatures in his support. He was swiftly allowed on the ballot earlier this year, with election officials disqualifying only 91 out of 315,000 that his campaign submitted.

Most of the opposition figures who might have challenged Putin have been either imprisoned or exiled abroad. That includes opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose attempt to run against Putin in 2018 also was rejected, and he is now serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges.

The vast majority of independent Russian media outlets also have been banned under Putin.

Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova said the ballot will have only four names — the fewest number of candidates since 2008, when Dmitry Medvedev ran in place of the term-limited Putin. Medvedev easily won the race with three other token contenders in a power-sharing deal that kept Putin in charge as prime minister.

Three candidates running against Putin next month were nominated by parties represented in parliament and weren’t required to collect signatures: Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party.

Those parties largely support the Kremlin’s policies. Kharitonov…