Russia’s Supreme Court rejects Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin’s first claim against Central Election Commission

Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin’s first claim in his dispute of the Russian Central Election Commission’s (CEC) handling of his candidacy application for the country’s upcoming presidential election.

Nadezhdin contested the CEC’s stipulation that signature collectors on lists notarized in one region not be allowed to collect signatures from citizens registered in another, wrote RIA Novosti. Nadezhdin asserted that there is no such requirement in federal law and that the CEC was overstepping its authority.

Nadezhdin’s second claim pertains to the 4565 signatures rejected by handwriting experts. According to him, his team received no official explanation as to why each signature had been deemed false and no information on the experts’ credentials.

On February 16, Nadezhdin plans to file a third claim with Russia’s Supreme Court, challenging the CEC’s decision to not register him in the Russian presidential elections. He clarified that his team needs to contact thousands of citizens across the country to prepare, which is why the main lawsuit will be filed after the first two.

On February 8, Russia’s CEC voted not to register Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate for the presidential elections. According to the CEC, it received 104,734 signatures in support of Nadezhdin. After checking 60,000 signatures, the body invalidated 9,147.