Russia’s elections commission has said it found “dead souls” among the more than 100,000 signatures of support submitted by Boris Nadezhdin, the sole anti-war candidate in next month’s presidential election, in a sign that he could be disqualified from a carefully managed ballot meant to deliver victory for Vladimir Putin.

Nadezhdin, a veteran politician who has associated with Kremlin insiders and the opposition to Putin, has been waging a last-minute campaign to get on the ballot for the election, with thousands of Russians standing for hours in the freezing cold to add their signature in his support.

While Nadezhdin has not yet been disqualified, Friday’s briefing at the central elections commission indicated that he could be removed in the run-up to the vote. He has been summoned to the commission on Monday for a review of the “errors” among his signatures.

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  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    This is interesting.

    It’s widely assumed that Putin has various measures to ensure he’ll win no matter who runs against him.

    This could be an indication that he’s unpopular enough that even these measures won’t be enough to ensure he’ll win.

    • uis@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Same happened 6 years ago.

      Also there was poll last year what maximum age should be for presidency. 60% are against 70 years or older president. Bunker Rat is 71.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      5 months ago

      I’m sure there were videos a few years back of goons openly shoving piles of paper into the ballot boxes.

      Like, not even smart enough to do it off camera. Didn’t matter anyway. Nobody is going to do anything about it.

    • ChrisLicht@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Until the majority of voters who lived through ‘91 to ‘00 die off, he’s fine.