February 11 (Reuters) – Candidate registration in Russia for the March presidential election has closed, TASS stated on Sunday, with a listing together with President Vladimir Putin, who is predicted to win, and three politicians who’re supporting all Moscow's conflict in Ukraine.
The listing didn’t embody Russian anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin after the Central Election Fee (CEC) barred him from working on Thursday, saying it had discovered flaws within the assortment of signatures wanted to assist his candidacy.
The CEC recorded Vladislav Davankov, deputy speaker of the Russian Duma and a member of the New Individuals's Caucus; Leonid Slutsky, the chief of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Celebration (LDPR) loyal to the Kremlin; and the candidate of the Communist Celebration, Nikolai Kharitonov.
Putin, 71, who selected to run as an unbiased somewhat than the candidate of the ruling United Russia social gathering and has been Russia's supreme chief since 2000 and controls all of the levers of state, is predicted to simply win subsequent month's vote.
Whereas nobody anticipated 60-year-old Nadezhdin – who has characterised Putin's conflict in Ukraine as a “deadly mistake” – to win, his livid criticism shocked some analysts. The Kremlin has stated it doesn’t see him as a severe rival to Putin.
Nadezhdin stated on Thursday that he’ll problem the CEC's determination in Russia's Supreme Court docket.
The conflict, which the Kremlin calls a “particular army operation”, is nearing the top of its second yr. It has killed hundreds on each side, displaced thousands and thousands of Ukrainians, and turned dozens of cities and cities into rubble. (Reporting by Elaine Monaghan and Lidia Kelly; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Enhancing by Jonathan Oatis)
