Russia expelled Boris Nadezhdin from the presidential elections

"CEC (Central Election Commission) refused to register my candidacy for the post of President of the Russian Federation"
This is what Boris Nadezhdin, who is a fierce critic of Putin's war in Ukraine, wrote on social networks.
On February 8, the CEC announced that it had found "irregularities" in over 9,000 out of a total of over 100,000 signatures in support of Nadezhdin, AFP reported.
This figure is three times higher than the permissible 5% errors and gives the commission reason to disqualify the opposition player.
Last week, CEC Deputy Chairman Nikolai Bulaev said he had found 11 "dead souls" among more than 100,000 signatures in support of Nadezhdin.
The decision was expected and comes after a CEC task force said on February 5 that it had found 15% of its advocates' signatures to be invalid.
Nadezhdin is running a last-minute campaign to get on the ballot for the election, with thousands of Russians standing for hours in the cold to sign his support.
In his election manifesto, he said that Putin had made a fatal mistake by starting the war in Ukraine.
"Putin sees the world from the past and drags Russia into the past," the Kremlin critic said.
He said he would challenge the decision against his candidacy before the country's Supreme Court.
"I do not agree with the CEC's decision. Participating in the presidential elections in 2024 is the most important political decision in my life," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
No one expected the 60-year-old Nadezhdin to win, even if he was allowed to run, given Putin's complete dominance and control of the state. But his campaign gained public attention because of his outspoken opposition to the war in Ukraine.
Many supporters acknowledged that although he had ties to the government in the past, they had no other candidate to express their displeasure with the war.
He also received support from Alexei Navalny's allies, most of whom were imprisoned or expelled from Russia./BGNES