Russia’s Central Election Commission rejects Yekaterina Duntsova’s application to run for president

Russia’s Central Election Commission has refused to register journalist Yekaterina Duntsova’s voters’ committee, which supported her nomination as a presidential candidate, according to the Telegram channel Ateo Breaking, which is run by one of Duntsova’s trusted representatives. This decision prevents Duntsova from collecting signatures, which is required to move forward in the nomination process.

The election commission says her application was rejected due to errors in the nomination paperwork. The commission found over 100 errors, including typos in name spellings, and said that the signature of one of the members of the voters’ committee resembled a cat (rather than a legitimate signature).

Yevgeny Shevchenko, a member of the Central Election Commission, said that 20 percent of statements made by members of Duntsova’s voters’ committee contained errors. “We carefully examined the documents, and we got the impression that they were completed in haste and without following legal norms,” said Shevchenko, as cited by independent outlet Agenstvo.

“Yekaterina Duntsova, you are a young woman, you have everything ahead of you. Any minus can always be turned into a plus, any experience is still an experience,” Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, told Duntsova during a commission session.

Duntsova said she would appeal the decision at Russia’s Supreme Court. She has called on the Yabloko party to nominate her as a presidential candidate instead, since the voters’ committee that supported her nomination cannot conduct a second nomination meeting.

On December 17, a voters’ committee held a meeting in Moscow, where they voted in support of nominating Duntsova as a presidential candidate.