Russian authorities say anti-war presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin’s candidacy documents contain ‘surprising errors’

Russian Central Election Commission deputy chair Nikolai Bulaev said Friday that the commission has found “surprising errors” in signatures submitted by anti-war presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin in his candidacy application.

“We’re seeing dozens — plural — of signatures from people who have passed away, which raises questions about the ethical norms followed by the signature collectors, among other people,” Russian state media quoted Bulaev as saying. “To some extent, the candidate is directly involved in this.”

At the same time, a Central Election Commission representative said that the agency is not yet finished verifying the signatures in support of Nadezhdin’s candidacy.

Bulaev proposed inviting Nadezhdin to a commission meeting on February 5 to show him the “results of the verification procedures.”

Under Russian law, Nadezhdin needs 100,000 verified signatures to officially join the presidential race. On January 31, he submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission. His campaign says it gathered more than 200,000 from supporters in total.