Presidential election

Court confirms exclusion of Putin opponent

Boris Nadezhdin is considered Vladimir Putin's fiercest rival.(Bild: AFP)

According to his own statements, Putin opponent Boris Nadezhdin has suffered another defeat in his attempt to run in the presidential election in Russia. The Kremlin critic was removed from the ballot paper due to allegedly incorrect application documents.

"The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has rejected my application to challenge the refusal to register," Nadezhdin explained in online services on Wednesday. The opposition politician announced his intention to appeal the decision. The Russian Supreme Court will examine his appeal next Monday

"Irregularities" with signatures
Nadezhdin has campaigned for an end to the conflict in Ukraine. His candidacy for the presidential election was rejected by the Russian election commission around two weeks ago. The electoral commission had stated that "irregularities" had been found in some of the 105,000 signatures required from supporters.

Nadezhdin took legal action against the decision. His team explained that the alleged "errors" objected to by the commission were also minor typing errors that had occurred during the digitization of handwritten information.

An election that is not an election
Incumbent Vladimir Putin is expected to win the presidential election in mid-March. Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister for more than 20 years. 

The signature lists are said to have been incorrect.(Bild: AFP)

There is no real opposition in the election. Much of the opposition is in prison or in exile; last week the prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny died in custody.