Who is Boris Nadezhdin, Putin challenger barred from Russia's presidential polls?

Russia’s Vladimir Putin may be running for president again, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to have much competition. On Thursday, Russian authorities disqualified politician Boris Nadezhdin from running against Putin in the presidential polls in March. The development comes months after Russia’s Supreme Court  upheld a decision to bar former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova from taking part in the election. But who is Nadezhdin? Why has he been disqualified? Let’s take a closer look: Who is he? Nadezhdin, 60, is a veteran politician. As per CNBC Africa, Nadezhdin was born in Uzbekistan. He trained as an engineer before took the plunge into politics.

His website describes him as a “physicist, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician.”

He was first a city legislator in the Moscow region, according to The Moscow Times. He was then elected to the Russian parliament – known as the Duma – in 1999 from the Union of Right Forces (SPS) party. Nadezhdi then served as an adviser to Opposition leader and then deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov. He was also an aide to ex-prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko — who is currently helming domestic policy at the Kremlin. In 2012, Nadezhdi was an election observer on behalf of Putin’s 2012 presidential campaign. He was also close to Kremlin-loyal candidate Sergei Mironov. But in 2020, Nadezhdin seemingly made a break from the Kremlin – criticising the controversial constitutional amendments that allowed Putin to hold power till 2036 Nadezhdin currently belongs to the Civic Initiative party. He also belonged to the A Just Russia Party, as per CNBC Africa. Nadezhdin has caught the eye of many for his anti-war views. As per The Guardian, Nadezhdin wrote in his election manifesto that Putin made a “fatal mistake by starting the special military operation” in Ukraine. “Putin sees the world from the past and is dragging Russia into the past,” Nadezhdin added.  Nadezhdin has openly called for a halt to the conflict in Ukraine. As per The Moscow Times, Nadezhdin has vowed to halt troop mobilisations and allow ordinary Russian soldiers to return to their families. He also wants to release political prisoners. He has called Russia’s increasing abortion restrictions and targetting of LGBTQ+“complete nonsense” and compared such moves to “the Middle Ages.”   He also wants to start a dialogue with the West. As per CNBC Africa, he has also called for ending Russia’s dependence on China. [caption id=“attachment_13577622” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Russian president Vladimir Putin is almost certain to win the reelection, AP[/caption] Thousands of Russians lined up across the country last month to sign papers in support of his candidacy, an unusual show of Opposition sympathies in the country’s rigidly controlled political landscape. “Standing in line and supporting Nadezhdin is a safe way to protest and we support that,”  Ruslan Shaveddinov, a close ally of Navalny, told The Guardian. “We want to see someone on the ballot who we’re not ashamed to vote for,” Ivan, a student, told The Moscow Times in Moscow. “I believe that Nadezhdin has enough public support — whether he will be allowed to take part in the elections is another question,” Ivan added. Exiled Opposition activists threw their weight behind Nadezhdin last month, urging their supporters to sign his nomination petitions. “This is the only candidate that wants to stop the military action on someone else’s territory,” a voter who identified himself as Anatoly told CNN. “You can call it God or fate, but there’s a tangible force driving my campaign,” Nadezhdin told Politico in January. “I don’t know exactly why I’m not arrested,” Nadezhdin told CNN. Why has he been disqualified? Under Russia’s election law, Nadezhdin was supposed to gather at least 100,000 signatures in support of his candidacy. As per CNBC Africa, Nadezhdin has claimed he collected over 200,000 signatures. But the Central Election Commission which governs Russia’s elections has claimed more than 9,000 signatures submitted by Nadezhdin’s campaign are invalid. Under the rules in Russia, potential candidates can have no more than five per cent of their submitted signatures thrown out. Speaking at the Election Commission on Thursday, Nadezhdin asked election authorities to postpone the decision and to give him more time to rebut their arguments, but they declined. [caption id=“attachment_13705732” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Ella Pamfilova, head of Russian Central Election Commission. AP[/caption] The politician said vowed to challenge 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.”

“I do not agree with the decision of the central election commission … Participating in the presidential election in 2024 is the most important political decision in my life,” Nadezhdin wrote on his Telegram channel as per The Guardian.

“I am not backing down from my intentions.”

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Nadezhdin told Politico no one from the Kremlin has been in touch. “It’s a sign they don’t know what to do with me,” he said. Some think the Kremlin may have made a miscalculation  letting Nadezhdin run. The Guardian quoted Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of the political analysis firm R.Politik, as saying the Kremlin had allowed Nadezhdin to collect signatures to “show the hopelessness of the anti-war agenda”. Stanovaya said his candidacy has proved embarrassing for the Kremlin. As per CNBC, questions have continued to dog Nadezhdin’s candidacy. Some speculated that the Kremlin was letting run to make the polls look legitimate – claims that Nadezhdin has disputed. Not that it matters really. The newspaper quoted the independent Levada Centre as saying Nadezhdin was likely to get two per cent of the vote in the general election. Also, keep in mind thatPutin is almost certain to win the reelection given his tight control of Russia’s political system. Most of the Opposition figures who might have challenged him have been either imprisoned or exiled abroad, and the vast majority of independent Russian media outlets have been banned. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the Kremlin doesn’t view Nadezhin as “a rival” for the incumbent president. The Kremlin points to opinion polls which give Putin, 71, an approval rating of around 80 per cent. Russia’s presidential election is scheduled for 15 to 17 March. With inputs from agencies