Yekaterina Duntsova lost her appeal to the Supreme Court over the authorities’ refusal to declare her candidacy valid.
A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine has had her appeal against election authorities’ refusal to accept her candidacy in the country’s upcoming presidential election rejected.
Ekaterina Duntsova, a former local television journalist, defended her vision of a Russia “humane, “peaceful, friendly and ready to cooperate with everyone on the basis of the principle of respect”.
Russia’s Election Commission has refused to accept Ekaterina Duntsova’s initial candidacy submitted by a group of supporters, citing errors in the documents, including spelling.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Supreme Court rejected Ekaterina Duntsova’s appeal against the Commission’s decision.
After losing her appeal, the former Russian journalist said she would start working on creating her own political party, which will defend “peace, freedom and democracy”.
“We will win the right to live without fear, to speak freely and to have confidence in the future”she said via a messaging application.
Ekaterina Duntsova asked the leaders of the liberal political party, Yablokoto nominate it as a candidate, but its founder, Grigory Yavlinsky, refused.
The tight control exercised by Vladimir Putin during his 24 years in power fact that his re-election in the presidential election next March is practically assured. The main opponents who could challenge him are in prison or living abroad. Most independent media have also been banned.
However, a number of Russian parties have already nominated their candidates who will try to overthrow Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Communist Party, the second largest in the Duma (lower house of Parliament), has nominated a veteran lawmaker, Nikolai Kharitonov. However, the Communists and other factions in the Duma represent only a symbolic opposition and generally support Vladimir Putin’s policies.
Nikolai Kharitonov previously ran against Vladimir Putin in a presidential election in 2004, coming in second with nearly 14% of the vote. He successfully submitted his documents to the Central Election Commission.
The party, Civic initiativewho is not represented in the Duma, supported the nomination of liberal politician Boris Nadezhdin, who spoke out against Russia’s action in Ukraine.
Ekaterina Duntsova urged her supporters to help Boris Nadezhdin collect signatures to enter the Russian presidential race.
Vladimir Putin is running as an independent and his campaign headquarters, along with sections of the ruling party, United Russiaand a political coalition called Popular Frontbegan collecting signatures in favor of his candidacy.
Under Russian law, independent candidates must be nominated by at least 500 supporters and collect at least 300,000 signatures from 40 or more regions.
