The CEC found more than 15% defects in Nadezhdin’s signatures

The CEC of Russia found more than 15% defects in the signatures of presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin. No more than 5% is allowed for registration.

“The meeting of the commission has ended, the documents have been taken away. 15.348% failure, 2 sleepless nights ahead,” wrote the representative of Nadezhdin’s headquarters, Igor Artemyev.

According to the procedure, after a three-stage verification of questionable signatures, there should be no more than 5%. Otherwise, the CEC does not register the candidate – and he drops out of the race for the presidential post.

The registration session will be held at the CEC on February 7. After that, Nadezhdin’s headquarters will go to court, Artemyev wrote.

Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the CEC Nikolay Bulaev hinted at problematic signatures of Boris Nadezhdin and Sergey Malinkovich. “When we see dozens of people who are no longer alive, but they signed, the question arises about the ethical standards of signature collectors. To some extent, the candidate is involved in this,” said Bulaev at the CEC meeting. He did not specify whose signatures he meant.

Nadezhdin commented on Bulaev’s words as follows: “We live with you, all the living. If someone’s dead soul is reflected in my signed letters – well, friends, these questions are not really for me. It’s more in the church, to the exorcist.” He also published photos of queues of people who left signatures for him.

Nadezhdin is the only one of the candidates who openly supports the end of the war in Ukraine and speaks out against the policies of the current President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

The CEC has already registered four candidates, including Putin, who is about to become president for the fifth time. Putin is running as a self-nominated candidate. For registration, he needed to submit at least 300,000 signatures. The CEC found a 0.15% defect in them.

• Voting in the presidential elections of Russia will take place from March 15 to 17, 2024. Elections in Russia are assessed by independent observers and experts as not free and dishonest. The authorities intervene in the election process, create advantages for pro-power candidates, and in some cases there are direct falsifications.