Former Russian MP and opponent Boris Nadezhdine announced on Wednesday that the Supreme Court had “rejected his appeal” against the refusal to register his candidacy for the presidential election in March, which should see the reappointment of Vladimir Putin for a new term. Mr. Nadejdine added that he would contest this decision.
This discreet veteran of Russian political life, who had taken a position for the end of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, had seen his candidacy rejected at the beginning of the month by the Central Electoral Commission on the grounds of irregularity among the 105,000 signatures that he collected.
He said he learned of the Supreme Court's decision from a foreign country, where he said he was "on vacation with [his] children."
“The last two months have probably been the most trying of my life,” he said on Tuesday, at a time when the Russian opposition – most of whose representatives are in prison or in exile – was in shock after the death in detention, to date unexplained, of the most famous of them, Alexeï Navalny, at the age of 47.
“We have decided not to cancel a long-planned and eagerly awaited short trip for the whole family to an Asian country,” he said, affirming that he was not abandoning the ambition to participate in the presidential election.
Vladimir Putin, 71 years old, in power since December 31, 1999, will not face any real opposition – let alone the ongoing offensive against Ukraine – in the presidential election which should confirm him for a new six-year term in office. Kremlin.
The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, set the presidential election in Russia for March 17, 2024 in early December.
